Our Armageddon
by reedleonn
Summary: After a series of natural disasters, the world they once knew no longer exists. It's all about survival now, living day to day, and watching each others' backs. But when the end of the world, this armageddon, is eating away at them - can they keep themselves together and prevent each other from falling apart?
1. Chapter 1 - January 28

Our Armageddon  
Chapter One  
~reedleonn

Author Note: Alright, I've been hogging this story to myself long enough~

I actually started writing it on Shizuo's birthday this year (1/28) and actually have (I think) 12 chapters written already. Oh goodness, it's a long long way from being finished. I've been a bit stuck at starting the 13th chapter so I'm hoping starting to upload the story that I'll understand what to do next. I dunno why all of a sudden I finally realized, "Oh shit, right, I was going to start uploading a couple months ago." And now at 1AM a few months after starting this story I've said to myself, "Yeah, let's get this rolling."

Okay, well, let's do this.

Disclaimer: Nope. I don't own DRRR! (or whatever I'm supposed to write a disclaimer.) I mean the plot and story is essentially mine except for the bits that obviously belong to Narita-san, DRRR's creator.

Read, my friends, READ. And if you want to leave a review afterwards go ahead.

OH YEAH ONE MORE THING THAT I THINK I SHOULD RIGHT. It's a WARNING: There may be triggers for some in this story. But I don't know since there are a lot of people with a lot of different triggers...

On with it. 

* * *

The man in the bartender suit put another cigarette to his lips. Taking out the lighter from his pocket and shielding the flame from the breeze, Shizuo watched the tip of the cigarette darken and glow. He inhaled, he exhaled, and watched the smoke as it was picked up by a gust of wind and carried off.

Peaceful. Ikebukuro was peaceful today and it felt strange.

A beeping emanated from somewhere on him and Shizuo felt around in all of his pockets for his cell phone. Finally locating it, he flipped it open to see _another_ new text message, this one Shinra.

[_Happy Birthday, Shizuo~! I can't believe my dear Celty beat me to texting you! Wah! I wanted to be the first to say that…but I've been overwhelmed with 'patients' all day…_]

Shizuo twitched one of his eyebrows up and debated whether or not to respond to Shinra's text. He had been getting texts off and on all day wishing him 'happy birthday.' He let out a sigh and flipped his phone shut. This was getting tiring. How was he supposed to work with his phone beeping at him so much?!

"Tch. Pisses me off." Shizuo mumbled, about to put his cigarette to his lips for another puff.

"Talking to yourself again?" Tom said from behind where he was seated on a park bench. Shizuo flinched only slightly and let a growl escape his throat.

"Today is such a bitch." Shizuo finally took another inhale from his cigarette. Now that he thought about it, at least Tom didn't acknowledge his birthday. He probably didn't even know it was today.

Tom shrugged and then a grin crept onto his face. "Break's over by the way. It's been over for about 10 minutes."

Shizuo stood up and threw his cig to the ground, stepping on it to snuff it out. "Who's debt are we collecting next?"

Tom started walking and the Beast of Ikebukuro loyally followed. "The next guy is a real pain in the ass. He's a bit violent. Strong too…really strong."

"Great…"

"Yeah, he's a bit of a hassle to get money out off. Poor guy has such a hard time keeping a job. I think he's been through four in a year…or was it five?" Tom chuckled and Shizuo felt something was off.

Shizuo drowned out whatever else Tanaka-san was telling him. He felt like his anger was simmering and ready to boil over if the wrong person crossed his path. He stuffed his hands in his pants pockets, his hands starting to feel icy from the wind chill. Maybe he should invest in a pair of gloves. Maybe he should invest in a winter coat, realizing only now that he didn't own one and only ever wore his bartender outfit.

"Here we are." Tom's voice snapped Shizuo out of his thoughts. The blond looked up in time to notice they were walking into Russia Sushi.

Shizuo raised his eyebrows. "Why are we here? Does the guy work here right now or something?"

Just as they entered the main room of Russia Sushi a bunch of familiar faces popped out from their hiding spots, all with wide smiles on their faces. Shizuo jumped back, tripping over a bar stool and tumbling to the floor.

A loud mixture of laughter and 'happy birthdays' erupted from the group as Shizuo got to his feet.

He scratched the back of his head. Not knowing what else to say, and obviously a bit flustered, he awkwardly thanked them. "Geez…you people didn't have to go through all the trouble. You also could have _told me_." He glared at Tom during the final part of his statement. Tom looked away, trying to hold in his snickering.

Looking around the room, he saw many people whom he knew well but also a couple of who he could barely remember their names. Shinra, Celty, Kyohei, Walker, Erika, Saburo, and Simon he knew well. The other three…their names were…Mikado, Masaomi, and Anri. He decided to just assume those names were correct.

Of course Kasuka was there lingering near the back. He nodded to Shizuo and Shizuo nodded back, slight warmth in him at seeing his brother.

Shizuo also noticed the vast array of sushi on most of the tables. His stomach grumbled, reminding him that he hadn't eaten breakfast or lunch today.

"Shall we eat?" Shinra said through a mouthful of sushi.

"Yes! Eat happy sushi, be happy! Shizuo is birthday boy. Shizuo must eat lot of sushi!" Simon ruffled the blond's hair.

Erika had snuck her way next to Shizuo with a sly look on her face. "Too bad Iza-Iza couldn't come~"

Shizuo glared down at her but she didn't shrink away in the slightest. Shizuo looked around to see that the woman was correct. The Flea was nowhere in sight. "I consider that a good thing." Shizuo mumbled.

"Aww…" she blushed and she put her hands to her cheeks. Shizuo's hands twitched and then squeezed into fists. "One day Shizuo-kun and Iza-Iza will fall in love and then make sweet, sweet-" Erika was cut off suddenly and Shizuo didn't even get a chance to put in a word to stop her either.

There was a loud rumbling, almost a groan, and the floor seemed to convulse. Lights swayed back and forth while flickering on and off. A couple chairs fell over and few things slid off of the sushi bar. The group clung to whatever they could to avoid losing their balance.

About 15 seconds later, the shaking stopped. For a few moments, nobody moved and no one spoke. They all just glanced around at one another with both fear and relief in their eyes.

When they started talking again, no one was really sure who was asking what or to whom it was directed.

"Whoa…"

"Everyone alright…?"

"Scary."

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Me too. Everyone else looks alright too."

"Anything get damaged?"

"A cup broke…"

"Oh NO!" Shinra shrieked. All eyes were worriedly on him. "One of the plates of sushi..." Their eyes followed to where Shinra's glace fell. "It's on the floor…I would advise against eating it…as medical advise."

Most of the group chuckled. Celty seemed preoccupied with harshly shoving her elbow into his side repeatedly.

"Ow! Celty!" He giggled. "Stop~"

"I'll still eat it!" Saburo offered.

"You're an idiot." Kyohei grumbled.

"Ever heard of the 'five second rule?'" Saburo defended his decision.

Kyohei sighed. "No. But it sounds like a dumb rule."

The party continued lightheartedly. Although it seemed the strange geographical occurrence had been forgotten about, there was a sense of apprehension in the air. It was true that where they all were standing, nothing horrible had come of it. But it was possible that somewhere else had been devastated. They wouldn't know until later, when they were in the comfort of their homes reading about it on the Internet.

As the light outside grew dimmer and as the streetlights eventually came on, it was high time the party disbanded. With a few final birthday wishes, they all went their separate ways. Only Tom, Simon, Kasuka and Shizuo remained outside Russia Sushi.

Kasuka looked up to his brother. "Onii-san." He said to get Shizuo's attention. "I placed a large order of sweets for you. It should arrive tomorrow."

"Ah…" Shizuo blinked as he was at a loss for words. "Thank you, Kasuka…"

Kasuka began to take his leave. "I won't wish you a happy birthday because I know it annoys you. Goodnight, Onii-san."

"'Night, Kasuka." Shizuo faintly smiled.

"Good party. Shizuo happy now." Simon grinned.

Shizuo exhaled some smoke from his cigarette. He nodded.

Tom stretched his arms above his head and turned to Shizuo. He had zoned out for a few minutes. "Hey, by the way, Happy Birthday. I was surprised when you didn't take the day off." His employee shrugged at him. "Well, anyway, I'll see you at work tomor-" Tom's phone rang and after glancing at the caller I.D. he answered. "'Evening. What's up-" Shizuo could only hear the tone of the person on the other side of the call and they sounded rushed in what they were saying. "I'll head over tonight…Okay. Bye."

Flipping his phone shut, Tom shook the nervous look he had had on his face only moments before. "Everything alright?" Shizuo asked.

"Huh? Oh, I'm sure everything will be fine." Tom pocketed his phone. "Listen, why don't you take a few days off. I have to hurry to my parents' place. Looks like that earthquake caused more damage where they are. They could use my help."

"Hm? Nothing too serious…?" Shizuo's brow furrowed slightly. Simon too was looking at Tanaka-san with concern.

"Nah, nah." Tom reassured them. "It'll be alright. But I'm just going to pop over to my apartment to grab some things then head to the station," He said and Shizuo nodded as his employer began walking away. "See 'ya in a few days, Shizuo!"

"Take care, Tom." Shizuo watched, as the man was absorbed into the pedestrian crowd.

Shizuo then heard light footsteps from behind him but before he could react, someone had covered his eyes with their hands. Shizuo's initial reaction was surprise with a hint of fear. But after a moment without imminent danger, his previous emotions were replaced with confusion.

"Ne, Shizu-chan. I came all the way from Shinjuku to wish you happ-" Izaya was cut off when Shizuo shook the informant off of him, pulling himself away from the other's reach, to turn around to attempt to grab hold of his scrawny neck.

Izaya easily dodged and watched the beast with amusement. "Damn it, Louse, stand still and let me strangle the life out of you!" The beast growled.

"Why would I let you do that~?" Izaya hummed.

"Consider it your birthday present to me!" Shizuo ground his teeth against each other in a crazed smile.

Izaya sprinted off. "Maybe I'll let you strangle me if you can catch me!"

Shizuo gave chase without another thought. He had heard Simon behind him yell something, probably just trying to tell him that fighting was bad…So, he ignored the statement entirely.

Alleyway after alleyway, the two rivals ran. Izaya only looked back every so often to smirk at Shizuo and Shizuo only concentrated on catching his prey. They'd throw witty remarks back and forth, toss objects, or make obstacles to make the chase more interesting. Or, in Shizuo's case, more annoying.

Even though it seemed Izaya was nowhere near tired, Shizuo was panting and his legs were starting to scream in protest. He slowed down and stopped, putting his hands on his bent knees for support as he caught his breath.

"Shizu-chan. Tired already, ne?" The Flea stood a few feet away with a wide grin plastered on his face.

"You're a bastard…Flea…" Shizuo said, relishing the oxygen entering his lungs.

They stood like this in a random alleyway for a moment until Izaya shifted, breaking the odd trance that had overtaken both of them.

"Hey…Flea…" Shizuo stopped. He wanted to say something to the other boy but couldn't quite put his finger on what it was exactly. "Tch, never mind. I forgot what I was going to say."

The statement only made Izaya's smile deepen. "Stupid protozoan."

It looked as if Izaya had more to say but both of their attention was pulled from the conversation when a loud rumbling started up again, almost simultaneous with the ground shaking. It was more violent this time.

They were both having trouble not falling to the ground. Shizuo gripped a nearby dumpster for support. When he looked to Izaya, he saw that the imformant really didn't have anything to hold on to but was doing pretty well staying upright.

Movement from the building directly towering above Izaya, made Shizuo's eyes shift wildly. Bricks were gradually dislodging themselves from the wall and when a few started to tumble downward in Izaya's direction, Shizuo push himself away from the dumpster and ran towards the other man.

"Izaya!" Shizuo screamed and saw the informant's eyes glance up right before Shizuo tackled him to the ground. The bricks crumbling right in the exact spot where Izaya had been standing moments before.

For a brief moment, the world was silent.

At first when Shizuo opened his eyes, the world was a bit blurry and the dust and debris were just settling. He coughed slightly from said debris irritating his lungs and scratching his throat. His eyes adjusted and he looked down at Izaya to whom he was clinging. The raven had his fingers digging into the fabric on his chest, eyes scrunched closed.

"You okay, Flea?" Shizuo asked but did not get a response. There was only the slightest quivering from the smaller male. "Izaya?" After still failing to invoke a response in him, Shizuo slowly brought his palm to Izaya's cheek.

Izaya's eyes shot open but he still didn't move for a moment more.

It was only when his eyes darted around his environment did anything begin to register. "Hey…say something." Shizuo told him. "Izaya…?"

Quick as Izaya could, he pushed Shizuo away, sat up for a second before standing and running off. He didn't say a word. Shizuo continued to sit in the alley, a bit baffled.

"Hm…" Shizuo's eyes wandered over to the pile of bricks that had almost done them both in.

The wail of sirens broke Shizuo out of his daze. Anxiety creeping into him, he stood up and began swiftly in the direction of his apartment, while whipping out his mobile. He felt the urge to phone his brother and his friends just to ease his mind that they were all safe.

No, scratch that.

He _needed _to know they were all safe. 

* * *

To Be Continued...

AN: Uh...Hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Like I said I have a bunch written already. I'll try to upload a chapter once a week. I. WILL. TRY. Unless you all hate it, which would suck. But, I'd probably just keep uploading anyway because I feel like it~


	2. Chapter 2 - Lights Out

Our Armageddon  
Chapter 2

Author Note: Alright, alright. Because of popular demand and positive response I'll be nice and give you another chapter a bit early~

Special thanks to all my reviewers and followers~ (You know who you are...)

Also...Warning: character death?

* * *

Shizuo turned the lock to his apartment and opened the door, stepping inside soon after.

[_"The number you have called is not in service. Please hang up and call again or dial-"_]

Grumbling, he snapped his cell closed and tossed it onto his sofa. He tried to flick on the lights but when the apartment remained dark, Shizuo attempted to flick the switch a few more times. "Great…no electricity." He sighed.

Sinking into the couch, he ran a hand through his hair and stayed like that for a moment remembering his walk home. There was no extensive damage to Ikebukuro that he could see but panic was rampant throughout its inhabitants.

He had been making phone calls continuously until just a few moments ago. Some people he could get through to, while others he had no clue. Sometimes the call would go through but a message would say that the number was 'not in service' or 'no longer available.' Other times his calls just simply wouldn't go through or his service would cut out rendering his phone entirely useless.

At the sound of his phone beeping, Shizuo turned his head and flipped it open to find a text. It was a number he didn't recognize.

[_Onii-san, it's Kasuka. I'm borrowing someone's mobile right now to tell you I'm alright. My phone is broken. Don't worry about me._]

Shizuo relaxed greatly. His brother was one of the people he couldn't get in contact with. He had been suppressing his panic and had refused to believe that he had been hurt, or worse, even though he was well aware that that had been a possibility.

[_…Thank you, Kasuka. I'm alright too…I'm still going to worry about you though._]

He didn't expect another text, nor did he get one.

The former bartender remained in the darkness of his apartment. He didn't have any candles and he really had no clue where a flashlight would be kept since he never used it. Instead he decided to go through the list of people in his head who he knew were safe.

Shinra and Celty were alright. He had called them first thing after he failed to contact Kasuka. They were shaken up and as he spoke to Shinra, he heard the underground doctor shifting things around in his apartment. When Shizuo confronted him about what he was doing, Shinra explained that their power was going on and off every so often and that he was preparing in case it went out entirely.

Kyohei and the rest of the van gang were fine but he said they were distracted at the moment. The conversation didn't last long because of this reason.

Simon was another person he couldn't contact but Shizuo knew he was strong so he didn't worry too much for the foreigner.

He couldn't reach Tom and that concerned him more since he had probably been on a train at the time.

Shizuo hadn't bothered to contact the Flea since he knew the raven was at least alive. He thought back to the alleyway briefly. Izaya's fear was more than just fear. It looked like complete terror. And although the idiot hadn't said anything at all after almost being crushed by bricks annoyed the former bartender, Shizuo was more focused on why Izaya hadn't even spoken after the blond _saved _him. He just ran off.

"Tch. Dumb Flea. What was that about…" Shizuo was tempted to call or text him just to make sure the idiot had gotten back to Shinjuku fine but decided against it in the end. "He'd probably just taunt me for some unknown reason…I'm sure he's okay."

Those Raira students that had been at his party…He didn't have their numbers. As guilt itched at him, Shizuo leaned his head back on the sofa. His eyes slowly shut and his last few thoughts before he drifted to sleep were of those students and his hope that they were uninjured…

…But also of Izaya.

* * *

Izaya rushed up the last steps of the emergency staircase towards his apartment. Since the power was out, the elevator was out of service. He only realized this after trying the button a few times. He should have understood that before even trying though…there had been no lights on in the lobby.

Fumbling with his keys, Izaya unlocked his door and stumbled inside, the door slamming shut behind him. He leaned against it to keep himself from tumbling to the floor. Why were his legs shaking? Why wasn't he thinking straight?

His breath was ragged and he almost felt as though he were choking. He rubbed at his eyes, feeling as though his vision was wrong. The world felt like it was swaying but he knew it wasn't. The earthquake hadn't actually been as long as it had felt.

Trying to calm himself down, Izaya took a deep breath and a few steps into his apartment. It was so dark, he could barely see where his feet were planted on the ground…or even _if _they were planted on the ground. He could have been walking through oblivion for all he knew.

He continued into his apartment, trying to walk by using his memory of where everything was. The problem being there were items scattered all over the floor that he hadn't put there but rather the quake had thrown.

Trying not to trip, Izaya focused on the location of his leather couch. He slowly tried to make his way in the assumed direction. He heard things shift under his shoes, things creaking and cracking when his mind started to play tricks on him.

After a particularly odd 'crunch' sound, Izaya looked downward. His eyes were becoming accustomed to the lack of light, which actually made the situation worse. Instead of being entirely blind, he now had hints as to what was where and what he was stepping on. However, he could only see vague shapes and details were totally out of the question. Already shaken up as he was, his mind attempted to fill in blanks.

Terror started to envelope him again. His mind told him tall, thin silhouettes were people and anything that mildly resembled a weapon became a weapon. This left the paranoid informant to dart his eyes around the room to try to prove his own mind wrong. The choking feeling got worse and Izaya started gasping for more air.

Imagined noises attacked him in all directions and Izaya shifted his attention to each of them. Grabbing at his hair and covering his ears, Izaya stumbled the remaining distance to the couch and cowered, trying to sink as far as he could into the cushions.

He bit his bottom lip in an attempt to ease the bile back down that was slowly building up in his throat. He couldn't stop thinking; thoughts about death kept entering his mind without his permission.

He didn't want to be alone right now.

Frantically, he searched his coat pockets for his phone but couldn't find it but in one of them there was a hole big enough for a phone to slip through. It was gone. He must have dropped it somewhere on his way home.

He did feel a switchblade in a pocket though. Without thinking, Izaya pulled it out and flicked it open gripping the handle so tight that it turned his knuckles white.

Pulling his knees up to his chest, the informant wrapped his arms around his legs, his grip on his knife never letting up.

* * *

Sunlight hit Shizuo's face and at first, the man tried to shield his eyes from it, half asleep. As the events of the previous night reentered his mind, Shizuo shifted and slowly awakened.

The first thing he did was check his phone, noticing the battery was half depleted. Then he stood up to test the lights again. They still wouldn't turn on.

Not wanting to sit around without knowing what was going on in the world, Shizuo dialed Shinra's number from his contacts list.

It rang only a couple times before Shinra picked up. ["_Hello?"_] His voice groggy, indicating that he may have been asleep before Shizuo called him.

"Hey, Shinra. It's Shizuo."

["_Nn…why are you calling so early…"_]

Early? What was he talking about…The sun was up. Realization hit him.

"Sorry I forgot to check the time…"

[_"It's barely 7am…"_]

"Heh…do you guys have power?" Shizuo ignored Shinra's previous comment.

[_"Yeah! We have power. Or at least it was steady last night after awhile. Hold on, let me check."_] The sounds of Shinra getting up and walking around echoed through the phone. [_"Yes, we still have power. Do you not?"_]

"No, it was gone when I got home last night and hasn't gone back on since." Shizuo paused. "How bad was it this time?"

[_"Eh? Oh, the earthquake. Well…actually it wasn't __**terrible**__."_] Shinra's statement followed by his silence didn't sit well with Shizuo. [_"Some places are worse off than others…Ikebukuro was actually one of the worse places."_]

"Odd. I didn't see _that _much damage on my way home last night."

[_"Heh…it hit while me and Celty were driving back on her bike…Some parts of Ikebukuro are untouched while other parts took a lot of damage."_] Shinra stopped briefly before trying to continue but the connection was chopping his voice up. So much so that Shizuo had no clue what Shinra was trying to tell him.

"Hey, listen. The connection is going to shit. I'm coming over, alright?" He heard Shinra trying to say something else but whatever he said was impossible to understand. A few seconds later, the call was dropped.

He pocketed his phone, grabbed his keys, and hurried out of his apartment.

* * *

Izaya jolted awake when he heard his front door shut. Lifting his head to see who it was, he was glad it was Namie.

"Oh, so you _are _still alive." Namie hissed.

"Namie…"

"You know, you could have answered your phone at least _one _of the five million times I tried to call you." She rolled her eyes.

"You tried to call me?" Izaya couldn't hide the shock in his voice. It caught his secretary by surprise.

"…Yeah. I was slightly concerned you might be dead." Her eyes looked away from him for a moment and she attempted a slight grin. "Don't get me wrong. I just definitely need the money now…"

"Huh…"Izaya blinked trying to understand what emotion he was seeing in Namie's eyes as she sat down next to him.

"Both my brother and his girlfriend are in the hospital." She blurted out. "Wrong place, wrong time…fucking earthquake…" Her hands tensed and gripped at her skirt. She shook slightly, trying to hold back sobs.

Izaya had no clue what to do. He wasn't even sure how he should feel. He remained silent.

"Well?! Go on! Fucking rub it in my face already!" Namie glared at her boss, her hair partially hiding her eyes. It was strange. Izaya couldn't do what he would normally do, which was what Namie had been expecting. He felt stunned. He couldn't move, couldn't speak; he couldn't even think right.

Namie noticed his odd reaction. She squinted her eyes at him and then relaxed her facial muscles. She observed Izaya who appeared to be either deep in thought or so disconnected from what was happening that he had zoned out.

"…Izaya?" Namie raised an eyebrow.

Izaya suddenly shook his head, bring himself back to reality. "…Ah…nn. Namie-san…"

"What the hell...did you get hit on the head and form a concussion or something?" She asked and he quietly looked away. "Hello? Earth to Izaya…"

"Hm?" Izaya blinked and looked back at her.

"You are actually starting to worry me now." Namie grumbled.

"Why? I'm fine!" He gave her his signature grin and got to his feet. Namie only now noticing he was holding his switchblade. She decided to note it but not mention it. He flicked it closed and stuffed it into his coat pocket, the one without the hole.

Namie remembered why she had appeared here on her day off, which was also after a fairly substantial earthquake. "You still could have answered your phone to tell me that."

"My phone…Oh! Namie-san!" He chuckled. "I _lost _my phone."

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"No. I was in Ikebukuro last night wishing Shizuo a very happy birthday when-" He stopped abruptly and tensed only to hide his expression moments later. "Anyway! It must have slipped out through this hole in my pocket on my way home." He said while lifting up his jacket and sticking his hand through the hole in the pocket so Namie could see he was telling the truth for once.

"You walked all the way from Ikebukuro to Shinjuku last night…? Christ, Izaya. You should have just crashed at Shinra's or something."

"Why assume I walked back?" Izaya tilted his head, obviously perplexed at how she could know that.

"The subways were shut down and I heard on the news there are a lot of blocks in the roads so you couldn't have taken a taxi here." Namie narrowed her eyes. "What the hell is up with you?"

"What do you mean? Nothing's up with me…Namie-san is the one who is acting weird, ne~" Izaya walked over to the large windows.

"Izaya, you don't even seem to be aware that even if you didn't _want _to walk back, it would have been the only way to get here." Namie stated as he turned towards her. "Why _didn't _you just crash at Shinra's?"

"…Why would I?"

"Because shit is going down right now, _Izaya_. It was honestly a stupid move on your part!" Namie was losing her patience fast. She put a hand to her forehead and sighed. "You're acting really odd."

Namie heard Izaya shift and he let out a groan. She looked up to find that he was holding his head and squeezing his eyes shut. She didn't say anything and after a few moments, he composed himself and went to sit at his computer.

He went to turn it on, obviously forgetting that the power was out. He remembered this right before he pressed the power button and instead just sat in his favorite chair.

Namie opened her mouth to speak but before she could voice her thoughts, her phone rang and she answered it without even looking at the number. "Hello?"

Izaya turned to look at his secretary who, as the other person spoke, her eyes widened and too many emotions flashed across her face at once for Izaya to recognize any individual expression.

"I'll be right there…" She said, her voice only barely audible. She closed her phone and gripped it as she made her way to the door. Before she left, she turned to face Izaya. "My brother and Mika…They're both dead."

Izaya continued to stare at the entrance to his apartment even long after Namie had closed it. Eventually Izaya pulled out his switchblade, flicked it open, and hugged his knees to his chest.

* * *

To be continued~

Author Note - Lemme know what you think.


	3. Chapter 3 - Tumbling Down

Our Armageddon  
Chapter 3

AuthorNote: 3 Special thanks to all my readers, reviewers, followers, and favoriters. 

I can't think of any trigger-y warnings and this (particular) chapter doesn't have character deaths. But, tread carefully if you're a bit sensitive to topics relating to this story. Reading this is your choice~

On with it. Enjoy~

* * *

Shinra heard a knock at the door. "Coming~" He hummed. As soon as he unlocked it, Shizuo forced his way in, brushing past the doctor. "Eh? Shizuo-"

"By the sound of your voice, I guess you couldn't understand my last sentence over the phone…" Shizuo ran a hand through his hair, slightly scratching his now aching scalp.

"No...I couldn't. You're voice was all broken up. I tried to call back but-" He followed the anxious blond into the living room.

"My phone service died again." Shizuo plopped himself down on the couch next to Celty, sighing. They both motioned a greeting to the other before turning back to Shinra. "I couldn't understand the last few things you said either."

"Oh..." Shinra's eyes cast downward.

Shizuo raised his eyebrows at the doctor. "Well? What did you say?"

"Ah…just some stuff I heard on the news." Shinra fidgeted with his fingers. Shizuo motioned for him to continue. Shinra groaned as he came and sat down on the couch as well. "These two earthquakes…officials say there'll most likely be more. They're just not sure when or how many…" Shinra fidgeted more. "But they said there is a large possibility that at least one of the future quakes will be _very _bad."

Shizuo narrowed his eyes. "How bad?"

Shinra solemnly shook his head. "It isn't just Japan." Shinra leaned back on his sofa, seeing the dumbfounded expression on Shizuo with his peripheral vision. "A lot is going on all over the _world_."

Shizuo was rendered speechless. And turned his gaze away from staring at Shinra.

"Oddly, there isn't a lot of news about what's going on outside our country. I'm pretty sure a lot of information is not being allowed to reach the public. 'Trying to minimize the amount of mass panic, I suppose."

"This is a fucking nightmare." Shizuo rested his forehead against the palm of his hand and leaned forward, his hair hiding his eyes. He shifted after thinking awhile. "Have you heard from Izaya?" He said without looking up.

"Izaya…" Shinra's eyes went downcast. "I have not…I actually _did _invite him to your birthday party last night. He said he would think about it. 'Guess he decided against it in the end."

Shizuo sat back. "He actually did come. Soon after most everyone left."

"Eh?" Shinra glanced at Shizuo. "Do you know if he's alright?"

"Well, he's alive…" Shizuo noticed that that statement sounded strange. "What I mean to say is, I was chasing him when the second earthquake happened." Shizuo saw that Shinra was still confused. Shizuo turned his head away. "I may or may not have saved him from being buried under a bunch of falling bricks."

Shinra chuckled slightly earning a glare from Shizuo. "Well, it's good to hear he's okay."

"I'm still…not sure." Shizuo mumbled.

"Huh? Was he injured at all?" Shinra's smile faded.

"I don't think so…but he…that damn Flea!" Shizuo composed himself and tried again. "He wasn't acting right after that."

"How so…?"

"He didn't say anything. He just ran off. But he looked terrified…" Shizuo crossed his arms over his chest. "I've never seen him like that."

Shinra looked concerned and that made Shizuo worry.

"Maybe I should try calling him…_Just to make sure I'll still be able to be the one to kill him later."_ Shizuo pulled out his phone to check if his service was back. It was.

"I tried calling him. A few times actually. He…didn't pick up…"

Shizuo dialed Izaya's number through his contacts. It rang for quite a while but eventually someone actually picked up. ["_Hello_?"] A voice answered but it wasn't Izaya.

"Uh…I think I have the wrong…number?"

[_"Shizu-o! You try to call this phone! I don't know whose phone this is!"_] The voice possessed a heavy accent. Shizuo knew who it was right away.

"Simon?! Why do you have Izaya's phone?"

[_"This is Izay-a's phone?"_] Simon asked.

"Yeah...why do you have it?"

[_"Oh! Makes sense now!"_] Simon laughed. [_"I thought it may be your phone but when you call this phone I think, no it can't be your phone!"_]

Shizuo's eye twitched. "But Simon, why do you have Izaya's phone?"

[_"He drop it outside Russia Sushi last night. I see phone right before you two run off. Chase each other. I called out. Try to ask if this your phone. You not hear me."_] Simon laughed again then turned serious. ["_You no fight did you? Fighting bad especially last night, fighting bad."_]

Shinra was eavesdropping, his ear right next to the phone, which Shizuo held to his own ear. "Ask him why he didn't pick up when _I _called!"

Shizuo pushed Shinra away. "Why didn't you pick up before? Shinra says he tried to call Izaya's phone as well."

[_"I leave phone in restaurant when I go up to apartment above restaurant to sleep."_]Simon explained. [_"Didn't hear it ring…Very sorry!"_]

"He didn't hear it ring." Shizuo turned to tell Shinra whom he was blocking from trying to return to his previous position against the phone. "Simon, have you heard from Izaya since last night?"

["_Hmm…I may have seen Izay-a. Don't know where he was going. Wasn't sure it was him. Didn't look right."_]

"Hm? What do you mean?"

[_"Oh! I very foolish! Of course it Izaya. I will go check on him. Yes?"_]

"Huh…Simon. What the hell are you talking about…" Shizuo's eyes widened. "Shinjuku is a pretty long walk and all transportation is shut down right now so-"

[_"Okay, Shizu-o! I go find him! Thank you very much! Bye."_] Simon said and then the line clicked, indicating that Simon had just hung up on him.

"God damnit, Simon…" Shizuo flipped his phone shut.

Shinra pleadingly looked at the former bartender to reiterate the story, having only heard bits and pieces after Shizuo shoved him away.

"Simon's going to go look for the Flea." He said casually.

Shinra stared at Shizuo, a baffled expression on his face. "Well…that's good. I think…"

Celty got up from the couch and started walking towards the bathroom. Smacking Shinra on his head as she paused behind him. She earned a confused look from him and she started typing on her PDA. [I'm taking a shower. Don't peek. And don't dissect Shizuo while I'm not around to prevent you from doing so.]

Shinra grinned and gave her a thumbs up. "Got it~"

"You have hot water?" Shizuo asked when Celty was out of earshot. He realized he hadn't thought of it before but depending on the situation it made sense that hot water might be harder to come by right now. It was odd to think it might be a luxury but at this moment in time it might be.

Shinra shrugged his shoulders. He had no clue if the hot water still worked or not, only having checked that there was water to drink.

* * *

Izaya shivered in his chair. It was getting colder in his apartment. His heat ran on electric. The electricity was out. It was winter. He didn't have any heat and wouldn't until it went back on…_if _it went back on at all.

"I'm not going to die. I'm not going to die…I'm not going to die…" He whispered to himself through his chattering teeth. His switchblade, which he was still tightly holding onto, looked like it was vibrating. He was really cold. Freezing. Hypothermia…he was going to become an icicle…When, _or if_, anyone found him, he'd be dead. His corpse would be unmovable. Frozen in place.

Izaya shook his head. What the fuck was going on with him?! What was with all these stupid thoughts he didn't want to think but still thought anyway?!

He tried to focus on something else. If he was cold he should go up to his bedroom to get a blanket. It wasn't that far. Maybe if he ran all the way there…he'd feel warmer? Izaya set his feet to the floor and stood, grabbing his desk for support as a dizzy spell washed over him. Maybe he should eat too. He hadn't done that in awhile.

When the dizziness subsided, he continued towards the stairs and climbed his way to the top. He shivered violently and in the end decided against running. He just didn't have the strength.

He pushed open the mostly closed door that led to his room and entered. Noticing the bedroom window was shattered and bits of glass were scattered on the floor. He held himself tighter. His bedroom was colder than downstairs, the broken window allowing the winter wind to enter.

Glass crunched under his shoes as he approached the bed and after he dragged his blanket off of it he turned and walked back down to the living room.

Before he made it to the couch, Izaya licked his cracked lips. This tongue felt like sandpaper, his throat was dry. He was thirsty. Kitchen…he had to get to the sink in the kitchen…Izaya wrapped the blanket around his thin frame and made his way to the other room.

Upon reaching the sink, he turned on the faucet and put his mouth under where water should have emerged. He waited for a moment but no water flowed into his mouth. Disappointed, Izaya straightened himself and stared at the sink, clinging to the edge of the counter. No water.

He rearranged the blanket to try to feel warmer by bringing it closer to his body and over his head. He walked back to the couch having seemly forgotten that he was hungry and that one reason he was going to go to the kitchen originally was to get something to eat.

His shivering wouldn't let up and his muscles were starting to hurt because he couldn't stop it. He felt his eyes begin to droop and every so often he'd force them open again, rubbing them with the back of one of his hands to keep himself awake. He was afraid if he fell asleep, he might not wake up again.

His eyes closed again and he knew he was falling asleep but no matter how much he tried to open them, he couldn't and was dragged into unconsciousness.

* * *

Simon had known he would have to walk to Izaya's apartment. There was no other way and he had known before Shizuo had even told him. But hearing that no one had talked to him since last night made Simon concerned, especially after seeing the young informant's face as he dash through Ikebukuro.

It was taking longer than Simon expected it would to get to Shinjuku. The walk normally wasn't _too_ long and usually only took him just over an hour. He knew the way but he had never done it before alone. He had once made a delivery of fatty tuna to Izaya's apartment with Dennis. With another person to talk to the trip went quicker. The informant had been sick, nothing serious just a cold. But it had still prevented him from eating much but was certain he could hold down his favorite food.

Simon gripped the bag in his hand. He brought along Izaya's phone, some more fatty tuna and a bottle of water…just in case.

Today was definitely colder than previous days. It was extremely cold and he knew many people were without electricity, heat, and some didn't have water. Simon hoped he was just being overly cautious but he really was worried.

The news had initially said Ikebukuro had been hit hard but later confirmed Shinjuku was just as bad off, if not worse.

Simon looked up, noticing something odd in the direction he was heading. His eyes widened. The destruction up ahead was devastating. As he got closer he tried to keep a calm mind but it was difficult seeing places he had once known now unrecognizable. His pace picked up speed without him realizing.

Debris…collapsed buildings…cars crushed under fallen lampposts…the smell of blood. He tried to keep the thoughts at a distance but prayed that no one had been hurt even if he knew that couldn't be possible.

He tried to think about something else, anything else. He thought of happier times. Peaceful times. He filled his mind with good things and became somewhat oblivious to reality for a while.

Only to be brought back when a third earthquake hit.

* * *

To be continued...

AuthorNote: I am aware certain amenities, such as heating, vary in various countries. Just go with it~ Review if you feel so inclined.


	4. Chapter 4 - Blood and Gasoline

Our Armageddon  
Chapter 4

AuthorNote: Thanks again to all my peeps who are really getting into this!

Quick note~ From what I've observed and from personal experience, the way someone reacts to trauma is often very unpredictable. Just keep that in mind~

ALSO WARNING - More character death and trigger-y things.

Have fun reading~

* * *

The shaking started again while the van gang was on their way to Shinra's. In the back sat Anri Sonohara, Masaomi Kida, and Mikado Ryugamine all of whom they had picked up at the same location. All of whom had some sort of injury and couldn't get help right away. They had gone looking for help, they weren't stupid, but had been nearly turned away at the doors.

The hospital had been overwhelmed. Too many injured people. Not enough doctors or nurses to handle the situation. Since their injuries were not deemed life threatening they were to wait. But waiting is hard when you're in pain and waiting for over 12 hours to even be seen feels like torture.

They understood of course. There were people who were seriously injured and people who were dying. But still, pain is pain. And when the van gang appeared there for reasons unknown to the Raira students, they jumped at the chance once it was offered to them.

Weird though. They had looked sad. Eyes puffy and red as if they had been crying. Erika and Walker were even still crying although they had tried to hide it. The thought had crossed their minds that they had lost someone but they didn't know who it could have been and it felt wrong to ask them at the time.

A short conversation later, the three Raira students huddled in the back of the van.

The van at the time seemed like a haven, as if nothing bad could happen as long as they stayed inside it. But as soon as the ground began to convulse again, they knew that had been a delusion.

"Fuck!" Saburo screamed feeling the ground shift under the wheels. "What the fuck do I do?"

Kyohei focused on a piece of road that seemed safe and pointed to it. "Slow down and stop over there!"

"What?! You want me to _stop_?" Saburo was panicking. A panicking driver was a bad driver to have right now.

"Yeah, moron!" Kyohei was trying to give the man something to focus on but Saburo seemed to have lost it in his fear. He wasn't slowing down. "Saburo! Slow us down and pull us over!"

Saburo didn't speak, he almost seemed frozen, and couldn't hear a word Kyohei shouted at him.

"Saburo!" Kyohei attempted one last time but it only worked for a brief moment as Saburo lost control soon after and they headed straight into a lamppost.

The silence of oblivion was a comfort for a while. And it seemed to follow Kyohei back to reality.

He opened his eyes, the world not making sense just yet. He saw the dashboard. He could feel his seat belt had locked and was holding him. And as his other senses slowly returned he understood more and more. He smelled blood and gasoline. The two liquids were dancing together but Kyohei knew they shouldn't be.

Sound hadn't returned to the world yet. All he heard was a sharp ringing. But as the ringing faded there were more sounds. He could hear the passengers breathing over his own heartbeat. Sniffling, groaning, hissing in pain.

Kyohei wanted to speak out and ask if anyone was hurt, if everyone was still alive. But before he did he turned his head to the driver's side.

His eyes widened, his breath caught in his throat.

"Saburo…?" Kyohei went to reach for the other man but was held back by his locked seatbelt. After a bit of frantically fiddling with it, he released himself from the protective device and leaned towards Saburo.

Saburo who was not awake. Saburo who had his head bashed open from the force it took when it hit the window. Saburo whose eyes were open but unseeing. Saburo who wasn't moving, or talking, or breathing. Saburo who was dead.

Kyohei sat back, not taking his eyes off of his friend. He was dead. Dead…dead…dead.

Kyohei kicked open his door after realizing it was jammed. He stepped out of the van, looking around. First at the pole they had hit and then at the skyline, what was left of it. The city was worse off than before. It didn't even look like a city anymore. And it definitely wasn't home.

He heard the others who remained in the van, the crying and hissing and holding back words. Kyohei put a hand to his mouth during a moment of nausea. Closed his eyes and reclaimed his composure, hiding his pain. Pain and fear caused panic. More pain, more fear would cause more death.

He turned back to the van and slid open the side door. All others seemed intact and alive. No more extensive injuries other than a few extra cuts and bruises it seemed. He wasn't counting himself. He could feel warm liquid flowing down his face.

They looked up at him. They were shaken. They were confused. As was Kyohei.

"Come on. We have to get going." Kyohei said, trying to prevent his voice from breaking.

Walker shifted. "Is Saburo-"

"Yes." Kyohei bit his bottom lip and turned his head away, eyes closed. "We have to go."

Anri, Masaomi, and Mikado were first, Mikado helping Masaomi to walk. They didn't know if his leg was broken or just incredibly sprained. But he could put practically no weight on it.

Mikado seemed the least injured of the three students. He had some cuts, a few somewhat deep, a split lit and a lot of large deep purple bruises but other than that he seemed okay.

Erika quietly helped Anri out of the van. The girl could barely twitch her right arm without pain running up and down it. It was purple and there was a slight bulge under her skin on her forearm. A bad break…

Walker stepped out last. He wasn't even able to glance back at the van, even though he felt the need to, he still avoided it entirely.

"Are we far from Shinra's…?" Erika questioned.

Kyohei shook his head. "Not too far." Kyohei left out what everyone was thinking.

The words, _"If it's still there" _were left unspoken. Even though those words sang through each of their heads.

* * *

Izaya was aware of the violent earthquake. It had woken him up from the sleep he thought would become eternal.

He was thrown to the floor. Balancing to stand was impossible so he remained laying down. The blanket was mostly covering him except when he peeked out to watch the room move seemingly like Jell-O.

His pulse raced, heart pounding in his chest. His breath was catching in his throat and he couldn't breathe. He couldn't think. He pulled the blanket back over his head and squeezed his eyes tight. He was biting his lip so hard, he knew it was bleeding and he clung to the fabric of the blanket simply because it was something tangible to hold on to.

Had it been 20 seconds until the shaking entirely stopped? Or 30 minutes? Was it an hour? Or was it just 5 seconds that felt like a whole day?

When Izaya finally peeked out from under his cover. He sensed something was wrong but had yet to register it in his terror filled brain. He looked around the room and his eyes fell on his front door.

He pulled himself up, the blanket entirely forgotten as it dropped off him and onto the floor. It was as if he was hypnotized. The door…he needed to go to the door. He needed to…leave.

Izaya's nose picked up a familiar scent, his mind processing it slowly. Was someone cooking something? Was it food? It smelt burnt. Burnt. Burning.

He stood directly in front of the door now looking at the doorknob. There was a muffled scream in the back of his head. He didn't know what it was saying. He couldn't understand.

He grabbed the metal handle and searing pain shot through his hand forcing him to pull it back and glace at the newly burnt flesh.

GET OUT! His mind screamed, his head snapping up. GET OUT, GET OUT, GET OUT!

He tugged down his coat sleeve over his hand and turned the knob, pulling open the door. Smoke immediately started pouring into his apartment. GET OUT! GET OUT!

Izaya pushed himself into the hallway and headed for the emergency staircase. He coughed and hacked and gasped for air, trying to cover the lower part of his face with his arm. He descended down the stairs, faltering every so often but righting himself quickly. He wasn't even sure how many flights he had already gone down or how many were left to go until he got the ground floor. His feet just kept moving on their own without him thinking.

Pushing the door to the lobby open, the last light of the afternoon greeted him. He continued to hack and cough as he reached the cold air outside. Once his feet reached the concrete, his legs gave out and he tumbled to the ground and curled in on himself.

He gasped for air between coughs and his lungs screamed in pain. His eyes stung when they were open and were watering so he wanted to keep them closed.

His head was spinning and he opened his eyes to try to keep himself conscious even though it hurt to do so. Passing out now would be a bad idea…But his vision continued to dim and he couldn't keep his body from unconsciousness forever. He fought it as best he could but his best wasn't enough.

* * *

Shizuo was the first to speak up. "Everyone alive?" He slowly sat up and looked at Celty and Shinra. Celty had created a shield above them with her shadows and now that the earthquake had stopped, it dissipated. She crawled over to Shinra who was still covering his head with his hands. After lightly tapping his arm, Shinra bolted upright and hugged Celty.

"Celty! You're so wonderful! Using your shadows to protect us!" Celty nudged Shinra off of her, his grasp slightly painful.

Shinra sat back and sighed; pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.

"That, Shizuo, may be the _very bad_ I mentioned earlier."

Shizuo shifted into a more comfortable position. "So, what? _This _is going to keep happening?!" He grunted. "God damn…"

Celty typed on her PDA and showed it to Shinra. [I think our electricity is out for good now…]

Shinra nodded solemnly. "We have to figure out a plan…I don't think staying here is wise any longer."

"Your apartment?" Shizuo grumbled.

"I mean Ikebukuro…Tokyo in general. It's not going to work."

No one said anything else. Fearing Shinra may be correct and that they'd be forced to leave their home.

"If we're leaving, Kasuka is coming with us." Shizuo stated.

"Where is he?"

"…I don't know. And I don't know how I can contact him…" Dread spread through Shizuo's body. "Still, I have to find him."

Celty typed on her PDA. [We will help you as best we can.]

Shizuo nodded. He knew what she meant. The thought that Kasuka could be injured or dead made him want to vomit. He wanted to curl up into himself and deny the possibility altogether. There was no guarantee that his brother was still alive. But he didn't care. He had to search anyway. He tightened his fists so much his nails were digging into his skin. Nothing more was said on the matter and the conversation ended there.

A knock on the door broke the silence that had fallen over them. Celty went to answer it.

Shizuo and Shinra strained to hear what was going on. At first the visitors were quiet and then got progressively louder and more frantic. When Celty finally let them in, there was an unspoken gratitude that came in with them.

Kyohei entered first. Behind him stood Erika, Walker, Anri, Mikado, and Masaomi. Shizuo and Shinra stood to greet them, eyeing the damage they had taken. "Please…Shinra. Help us." Kyohei spoke.

Shinra nodded. "Of course…"

"Saburo? He's not here?" Shizuo asked seeing the driver was missing. The group before them winced. Kyohei shook his head, seemingly unable to speak about it.

Their looks of grief told Shizuo everything.

Shinra went to ready his supplies and prepared to fix them up one by one.

* * *

Izaya opened his eyes slowly. He saw light. But the sun had gone down. The light was dancing, swaying, and moving. It was warm but the ground was so cold. He used his hands to push his body up slowly, gently. Breathing hurt and he continued to cough.

There was white beneath his hands. White powder. Snow…

He pushed himself to stand even though he was barely able to keep himself upright. Glancing at the burning building, at the flames dancing and waving, Izaya started to walk without thinking. No location in mind, he just needed to walk.

He couldn't tell if he was shivering. He couldn't tell if he was even cold anymore. His body felt numb and tired, weightless. Looking up briefly at the falling snowflakes made him trip and fall to his knees but he got back up automatically.

He watched the ground instead, kept his eyes on his feet. No more tripping, no more falling – just keep walking.

The ground looked wrong though. The white was eating his feet. It was crawling up his legs and trying to drag him downward, like quicksand. Which direction had he picked? Where was he going? Just keep walking…

Looking ahead of him, he saw shadows moving around. They continued to accumulate like ants around him but not getting near him. Izaya shook his head and blinked. He _knew _there was nothing there. The shadows were not stalking him and the snow was not deep at all. It was just a dusting on the ground.

Why was he imagining all this crazy shit?

But it persisted and came back and continued to lie to him.

"_Izaya!"_ He heard a shadow yell his name. _"Izaya! Wait!" _

Why was it telling him to wait? Weird.

"_Izaya! Stop!" _The shadow's voice was familiar. _"You'll fall!"_

Izaya stopped at once. He didn't take another step. He obeyed the voice. It sounded like a warning. Why was it warning him?

He swayed back and forth, dizzy again. He was coughing again but he might have been coughing the entire time.

Looking at his feet, there was nothing in front of him. The concrete ended. He tried to look farther down. The ground farther down moved and made crashing sounds. What was it? What was down there? It was mesmerizing. He couldn't think. The sound was lulling him to sleep. He didn't want to sleep though…His body swayed again and he felt himself falling forward.

* * *

Simon had stared at the burning apartment complex, eyes wide and not wanting to believe. The third earthquake had delayed him. He closed his eyes and growled, looking down. When he opened his eyes he saw the dusting of snow had been disturbed. His eyes moved and followed a path that appeared to be formed from footsteps.

He started running. He had hope that the informant had gotten out of the building in time, that he was still alive. He called out to him even though Simon had yet to spot him.

Following the footprints in the snow, he kept running for what felt like an insurmountable amount of time. They eventually led him to a bridge. He heard coughing. And then in the distance he saw an undeniable form.

"Izaya!" he screamed but Izaya didn't turn around and didn't stop. "Izaya! Wait!" Something felt wrong.

Simon looked farther down the bridge to where Izaya was headed until it seemingly ended abruptly…Part of it had collapsed and fallen into the waters below.

"Izaya! Stop!" He tried to run faster, faster, faster. "You'll fall!"

And with that Izaya halted yet he didn't back away. He was swaying.

He started leaning forward when Simon reached out and pulled him back from the ledge. He held on tightly to the raven who seemed to have either passed out or was just out of it entirely.

At first his eyes had been closed but then he opened them halfway. He appeared to be looking right at Simon but Izaya's eyes held no recognition or anything else, they stared blankly.

Another coughing fit ran though his form and he smelled like a campfire. He was cold and pale…sickly.

Simon lifted him up and held him tightly against himself, hoping that his own warmth would help Izaya. He started running back towards Ikebukuro. He started running to the apartment where the underground doctor resided, knowing full well that it could take extra time to get there. Simon could foresee himself having to take alternate routes due to increased destruction.

* * *

To be continued...

AuthorNote: Okay...also, remember in the first chapter I said I had 12 chapters written? So...I miscounted because so far I've only written 9 chapters...I'm going to play catch up. I guess my mind got ahead in the story and my hands didn't actually write a lot of stuff down yet that I thought I had written down. DON'T WORRY. IT'S ALL UNDER CONTROL.


	5. Chapter 5 - The Unkindness of Ravens

Our Armageddon  
Chapter 5

**AuthorNote**: Yo~ So guess who lost track of the time/days/weeks...THIS WRITER RIGHT HERE! orz. Apologies. Altho I'd be lying if I said that was the only reason. I've also been a bit...**nervous** about posting the chapter. Maybe because I reeeeally like this chapter or maybe because I'm particular about getting as many 'facts' correct as I can. I ain't no doctor BUT I TRY MY HARDEST TO PRETEND TO BE~

Thanks again to all my reader/reviewer peeps out there!

Also, I may stop putting trigger warnings here unless the chapter includes a character death or something of the sort. You people know me (and this fic) by now~

HAVE FUN~

* * *

Kyohei, Erika, and Walker were attempting to help Shizuo weatherproof the windows. They were using anything they could find that would give them a little more protection and hopefully block at least some of the cold from seeping in. The glass didn't provide much insulation; letting what little heat they had left escape and the cold take over at the same time.

Large pieces of cardboard from boxes they disassembled worked alright. Flat pieces of wood, like 2x4's or plywood were better but harder to come by. Once in awhile a couple of them would go outside and search for more, going in teams in order to protect each other. It was a unanimous decision that no one should be left alone, nor did anyone particularly want to be alone.

Kyohei stopped trying to secure another piece of debris in front of the window momentarily. He exhaled deeply and rested his head against the material he was working with. Once in awhile he'd feel lightheaded and incredible sleepy, forcing him to stop whatever he was doing.

Walker glanced over at him and sighed. "Kyohei, why don't you take a break?" He offered Kyohei a slight smile.

"Nah, I'm fine." Kyohei said and refocused on his task. Walker's smile disappeared and he sighed again.

"Walker's right, Kyohei…You should rest for a bit…Your head-" Erika jumped in just as worried as Walker.

"Is all patched up." Kyohei didn't look at them. His signature hat covered the majority of the bandages. He blinked repeatedly, trying to ease the pain in his head, which felt like someone had taken a hammer to his brain.

"Doesn't it hurt?" Erika pushed once again.

"No." A lie. But it ended the discussion altogether. The two otaku turned back to what they had been doing; worry still plastered on their faces.

Shizuo hadn't been ignoring the conversation; he had just decided to stay out of it. But for a moment he too stared at Kyohei. They were all fully aware that he was lying about the pain since his words didn't reflect his hurt expressions.

Still, they couldn't force him to do anything, either to tell the truth or to take the break he so obviously needed. They just hoped he'd tell them if anything got worse.

Anri and Masaomi observed the whole exchange from their seats on the sofa. They'd help if they were physically able to but Masaomi couldn't stand, his left leg hadn't been broken after all but Shinra had wrapped it up to prevent Masaomi from further damaging it.

Anri wasn't as lucky. Her right arm was now in a cast and hung in a sling around her neck. Since Shinra couldn't get an x-ray of the break, he had to try to set it as best he could without entirely knowing the extent of the injury. Anri could tell the doctor wasn't telling her something that was on his mind regarding her broken arm but Anri decided against asking, putting her trust in Shinra that he was keeping something from her for good reason.

Masaomi and Anri looked up as Mikado, Celty, and Shinra reentered the room. Shinra flopped onto the couch with his arms and head lazily drooped over the back of it. Celty lingered behind Shinra, having been playing the part of his assistant for a good portion of the day. Mikado sat on one of the dining table chairs, turning it so he could face the others.

The room grew quiet and for some reason they felt a bit more at ease than they had in a few hours. Maybe it was because all of their injuries had been addressed or maybe they were all just overly tired, probably somewhat hungry too.

Kyohei finally sat down on the floor to rest, the work nearly done anyway. Celty at some point had lit candles so they could see. The unfortunate thing about covering the windows was that most of the light would not be able to enter the next time morning arrived.

Erika and Walker finished up too. Shizuo was last to sit down. They were all incredibly tired and most, if not all of them, started dozing off. They all had, at least, three heavy layers of clothing on, making them feel almost warm. Erika and Walker were the first to fall asleep. They had curled up on the floor under a couple blankets near to each other, snoring softly.

One by one, the others followed their example. It must have been late, nearing midnight but maybe passed already.

It was so quiet, so peaceful.

Shinra started to stir. His brain registered noises that he knew broke the pattern of silence but they had yet to alert him enough into complete consciousness. They may have been noises from outside; maybe one of his neighbors was just getting home. "Nn…that must be it."

He fell back asleep but a few seconds later, there was a loud pounding at his door and he snapped up from the position he had fallen asleep on the couch. It looked like the noise had startled most everyone else in the room as well.

A bit of light was pouring in from the cracks between their makeshift coverings on the windows. The candles had all gone out. They must have slept for at least a few hours even though it felt like they hadn't slept at all.

Shinra stood and made his way to the source of the pounding. "Maybe I should just get rid of my door…then no one will ever knock or pound on it again…" He grumbled sleepily.

He turned the handle and opened the door, rubbing his tired eyes in the process and yawning. When he finally looked at the man in front of him, he nearly had a heart attack. "S-Simon?!"

He was holding something…no, not _something_ \- _someone_. And that _someone_ wasn't moving, they were limp in Simon's arms…he looked impossibly pale, his skin almost held a tint of blue…he looked _dead_. "Iz…Izaya…?"

"Shinra! Help Izaya!" Simon rushed past the doctor who was in total disbelief. Izaya really looked to be heading to death's door if he wasn't there already. Shinra had even almost forgotten to shut the front door he had just opened; quickly pushing it closed before stumbling after Simon. Celty, who was aware that some sort of danger was happening, laid a blanket on the floor and Simon carefully placed Izaya's limp body on it and then backed away.

Shinra kneeled next to Izaya, searching for signs of life – looking for his vitals. He put two fingers to Izaya's neck and felt for a pulse, knowing to wait extra long in Hypothermic patients. Izaya was cold…he was freezing. It took awhile but Shinra eventually sighed, feeling relief that the informants heart was still beating.

"Shinra…is he…?" Shinra didn't look up at Shizuo who had asked the question.

"No, he's not dead." Shinra stated as he continued to look Izaya over.

His patient's heart rate and blood pressure were significantly decreased. And Shinra could only barely tell that Izaya was breathing and even when he did inhale, it was shallow and labored and his lungs didn't sound good, like they were struggling to work.

He told Celty to go to the spare room and grab oxygen and the non-rebreather mask. She nodded and hurried to do as he asked. She was the only one who knew where his supplies could be found in there and, at the moment, he really wanted to avoid moving Izaya at all.

"The rest of you, go find all and anything warm – blankets, coats, hot water if you can find a source of it or can heat it up. Hell, if you find anything that could be a source of heat I'll give you all my eternal gratitude…" Shinra's voice was stern and a bit shaky.

Without question they scurried away, even Masaomi with Mikado's and Anri's help to walk. Shinra stopped Shizuo before he was out of earshot.

"Shizuo. I want you to stay." Shinra spoke and Shizuo walked back into the living room. He kneeled down on the other side of Izaya, right next to him.

Before Shizuo could contemplate anything about the situation, Celty returned with what Shinra had asked for. Shinra connected the mask to the source of oxygen and then started placing the mask over Izaya's nose and mouth.

"Can you lift his head?" He motioned to Shizuo who obeyed, no questions asked. Shinra fixed the elastic behind Izaya's head to keep the mask in place.

As Shizuo set Izaya's head back down, he thought he saw Izaya's eyelids twitch. He didn't get to mention it to Shinra, the doctor took out his little light and forced one of Izaya's eyelids open with his thumb. He shined the light into his eye, occasionally moving the light away and then back. He did the same with Izaya's other eye.

Shinra knew Shizuo was wondering what was going on. "I'm checking to make sure his pupils respond to light. It's a tool to help me understand what's wrong with him and how to treat him. His pupils are reacting fine, telling me that a certain part of his brain is functioning alright." Shinra simplified it for Shizuo.

Shizuo nodded and continued to stare at Izaya's form. He noticed something odd on Izaya's right hand and went to turn it. At the slightest touch, Izaya's hand twitched and Shizuo thought he saw his eyelids twitch again as well. "Shinra…" Shizuo started. Shinra looked up at him. He hadn't seen Izaya's reaction. Shizuo went to turn Izaya's hand again and the informant twitched some more, Shizuo gasped. His hand was red and had formed blisters…a burn.

Izaya squirmed in his unconsciousness. Shinra placed a hand on Izaya's shoulder and leaned closer. "Izaya? Can you hear me?" Izaya didn't respond but he did settle down. Shinra tightened his grip for a moment and then relaxed. He looked up at Shizuo. "I need to get some warm intravenous fluids from my office. At least…I hope they're still warm."

Shizuo didn't bother to understand what or how the doctor did what he did. He didn't actually _need _Shinra to explain what he was doing before. But it was nice to know the Flea wasn't brain dead.

Celty kneeled down with a blanket, covering Izaya's still very frigid form and tucking some of the blanket under him. The others were slowly returning with as many items as they could that would work to warm Izaya up. Even though the apartment wasn't exactly _warm_, it was warmer than outside in the wind chill. It was even warmer than Izaya's apartment since Shinra's place had kept its electricity and heat much longer than Izaya's place in Shinjuku. In short, Shinra's place had residual warmth and it seemed to be helping Izaya's body to recover.

The group seemed to want to leave enough space around Izaya as to prevent themselves from getting in the way. They also felt some sort of responsibility to give him as much privacy as they could since they knew he most likely would not enjoy this kind of attention, had he been awake.

Shinra returned and thanked Celty for covering Izaya. He slid down part of the blanket and moved Izaya's arm so it now rested on top of the blanket. Shinra handed a bag of IV fluid to Celty who held it for him and he nodded in thanks. After cleaning the inside of Izaya's elbow, Shinra slid an IV needle under his skin and covered it with a piece of gauze held down by tape. Shinra chuckled when Shizuo flinched slightly at the needle piercing Izaya's skin.

The three of them watched Izaya's unconscious form, Shinra now tending to the burn on Izaya's hand. His breathing was growing stronger as was his pulse. Shizuo noticed that Izaya started to shiver and became worried realizing Izaya hadn't been shivering before.

"He's shivering, Shinra…" Shizuo eventually voiced.

The doctor shook his head. "Don't worry, Shizuo. It's actually worse if a hypothermic patient _is not _shivering." Shinra grinned. "He wasn't shivering before and _that_ had me worried."

Shizuo looked down at Izaya again and let out a sigh. He wished he could have a smoke but he didn't want to leave him like this. The situation was confusing and he had mixed emotions bubbling up inside his chest.

* * *

**AuthorNote: **-Can't think of anything to say- Uuuuh...You're welcome...?


	6. Chapter 6 - Becoming Scavengers

Our Armageddon  
Chapter 6

AuthorNote: Nya~ Hello, Hello. As I always say, thank you to all my readers and reviewers~

Warning: **_mentioned_** character death(s?)

**HAPPY WARNING**: ADORABLE character x character moment!

HAVE FUN.

* * *

Anri, Mikado, and Masaomi were sitting on a bench right outside Shinra's apartment. Shinra having chased them out for the time being saying they "needed to sit in the sun to get vitamin D" because it would help their moods since they were being "mopey."

"No shit, Shinra," Masaomi grumbled, remembering the doctor's exact words. "Maybe because it's the fucking end of the world…"

Masaomi's words sent shivers down Anri's spine. "Don't say that…" she whispered.

"Tch. Whatever…" he didn't feel like arguing.

"But Shinra may have a point." Mikado spoke up earning an unimpressed look from Masaomi.

"You've got to be kidding." Masaomi stared straight ahead at the empty streets of Ikebukuro. "This outside time would be way more interesting if there were at least people to watch."

"Sounds like something Orihara-san would-" Anri's innocent smile disappeared when she saw Masaomi's eyes narrow and for a moment Anri braced herself for him to verbally lash out. But he kept quiet, not saying anything at all.

Mikado shifted his position. The bench was starting to feel cold and his legs were falling asleep. "Maybe we should go inside."

Masaomi shrugged. They continued to sit on the bench, bundled up in 5 or so layers of clothing to prevent them from ending up like Izaya. The designated scavengers, as the three now presumably former Raira students had deemed Kyohei, Erika, Walker, Celty, and Simon, had found more winter gear this morning. It had been decided soon after they returned that each group of at least two would search for different supplies each day until they were able to leave Ikebukuro. At the moment, leaving wasn't practical with so many of them injured or incapacitated. The scavengers hadn't mentioned where they found this gear, or any other supplies they brought back, and it left the three younger ones curious.

Anri and Masaomi found themselves feeling like deadweight to the group. They couldn't contribute and they used up precious supplies. Mikado had noticed that _both _of them had been attempting to just stay out of the way. At least, that was what Mikado was assuming they were doing. He could have been imagining things when they had eaten less last night or when they seemed to be huddled at the very edge of the sofa, seemingly trying to take up as little space as possible.

Mikado had been pulled to the side by Celty last night. She used her PDA to ask him to please stick with Anri and Masaomi. Everyone was aware that Mikado was physically capable of going out to scavenge like the others but she was concerned about leaving Anri or Masaomi alone, even if they were together. Her rationing had been brought on by the fear that they would not be able to defend themselves if something were to come up. She didn't get to explain further. Her PDA shut itself off soon after, having run out of battery.

Thinking about yesterday was difficult. Even though Shinra said Izaya's condition was improving, he still looked terrible. Mikado couldn't say if any of them really had a strong relationship with Izaya, he was pretty sure no one did. The informant was an oddball to say the least. He was seemly without any close relationships at all and that felt strange to Mikado. Something was off but Mikado couldn't understand what yet.

"The scavengers are back." Masaomi sounded slightly amused, almost as if being outside was actually helping. Although quite honestly there wasn't really any sun shining, it was mostly cloudy.

They had all gone together this time, Celty, Simon, Kyohei, Erika, and Walker. Each of them carrying large cardboard boxes filled with _something_. The three of them hadn't really been paying much attention to what they had gone out for originally.

"Heavy…" Erika plopped her boxes near the bench and put a hand to her aching back. Walker also put his boxes down momentarily but a bit more carefully than Erika had done.

"Be careful with the supplies…" Kyohei grumbled at the two of them.

"What did you guys go out for, huh?" Masaomi asked.

"Medical supplies. Although we found some more water and food incidentally." Kyohei replied.

Masaomi's curiosity got the better of him. "Where the hell did you find _medical supplies_?"

Many of the scavengers seemed to be shifting uncomfortably. "The hospital, duh." Erika was still trying to massage her back while she answered.

"You _stole _medical supplies from a _hospital_?" Masaomi glared at them. "Don't they need that shit?"

"Not really anymore." Walker said somewhat innocently and it confused the three young ones.

"What the hell, guys?! You can't just take shit like that!" He raised his voice.

"Kida," Kyohei started while shifting the boxes in his arms. "The hospital isn't active anymore."

"W-what…?" Mikado said in place of Masaomi who was shocked at the answer.

"The last earthquake hit it hard. Much of it has collapsed." Kyohei set down the boxes. "It had taken some damage during the first two. The third was too much for it."

A thought that Masaomi had been trying to suppress came to the surface. "S-Saki..."

"The remaining patients were evacuated soon after." Kyohei stared straight at Masaomi.

"So...Saki was evacuated!" Masaomi said as if he was sure it was the truth. Kyohei didn't say anything he continued to stare.

"No, Masaomi." Kyohei looked away, ashamed. "Saki died a few hours before we picked you three up at the hospital."

Masaomi shook his head slowly. "…What?" he whispered.

"We were there when she died." Kyohei wanted to spare Masaomi the details but he knew the boy was about to ask anyway so he continued. "Me, Erika, Walker, and…Saburo…went to visit her after the second quake. But…" Kyohei stopped a moment, trying to prevent his emotions from showing through too much. "But while we were talking to her, she started saying her chest hurt. We called a nurse in, the nurse called a doctor, the doctor called in other staff too. Before we knew what was going on, we were kicked out of the room. Thirty minutes later...the doctors emerged and one of them explained-" Kyohei stopped a moment seeing Masaomi's eyes so incredibly wide and he kept slowly shaking his head back and forth. "-her heart had stopped and they weren't able to restart it."

"But…why…" Masaomi's eyes were wet and the next time he blinked, tears cascaded down his cheeks.

Kyohei had his eyes closed and he put a hand to his forehead.

Erika took over. "They said it was most likely due to a blood clot…" She hoped that that response would satisfy Kida's need to understand what had happened to the girl he so obviously cared so much about.

"Y-you…you didn't…t-tell me…" he stopped short and they weren't really sure what he was exactly asking. But they assumed he was referring to the four…the three of them not telling Kida sooner, at the hospital when they met up with him, Anri, and Mikado.

Erika didn't know if her statement did what she intended or not but he stopped asking questions. Whether that was due to the fact that he didn't have any more questions, didn't want to know more than they had told him, or if it was because he was resisting crying so hard he just couldn't speak.

The scavengers stood awkwardly in front of the three young ones a moment more, wondering if they royally screwed up the situation, until Celty motioned for the rest of the group to continue up to the apartment with the supplies.

As soon as they were inside and closed the door, they heard Masaomi starting to scream. He wasn't screaming words, he was just screaming – presumably crying as well. The urge to go back out and try to comfort him was itching at them but they knew they needed to give him space so after hesitating, started placing the supplies in the hallway inside Shinra's apartment.

Shinra took a step out into the hall from the living room. "Who's screaming?" He questioned.

The group just solemnly shook their heads.

"Hey…don't ignore…" Shinra tried to speak but they all just walked past him.

Celty set the supplies down on the floor before pulling out a small notebook and a pencil from one of the boxes. She wrote something down quickly and showed it to Shinra.

[Masaomi found out about Saki.] Celty's handwriting was a bit messy and harder to read than the words on her PDA. Shinra nodded. He hadn't been told anything about Saki and Shinra only knew that she was the girl Kida was in love with, having heard very little about her. What information he had heard of the girl, had come directly from Izaya a long time ago.

He would have been able to figure out why Masaomi was screaming his lungs out right now even if he had the IQ of an imbecile, which he certainly did not.

Shinra followed Celty into the other room where everyone present was gathered. The screams were becoming more muffled and weak by the second. It was possible to ignore them more and more, which out of courtesy, they did.

The group slumped around the living room, beginning to rest. Upon seeing the majority of the group with long, tired faces, Simon felt the need to lighten the mood. "Such long day!" He chuckled.

"No shit." Kyohei grumbled, closing his eyes.

"Ah! But we get so much done!" Simon continued.

"That's true. We did get a lot of supplies!" Erika grinned, understanding what Simon was doing.

"And destroyed Kida's sense of hope…" Walker pouted, scratching his head.

"He would have learned about it sooner or later." Kyohei was attempting to sleep.

Simon coughed. This wasn't going as he'd hoped. "Lots of supplies. Medicine, food, water. It good!"

Since no one could disagree with that statement they all fell quiet. Simon sat down with the others who were obviously not up for a pep talk.

Shizuo was still sitting next to Izaya's unconscious form, deep in thought. The expression on his face was one of mixed emotions. If they had been in a normal situation, the group would guess that Shizuo was annoyed that he was being asked to watch over his "enemy." Or they would assume he was just making sure Izaya would live so Shizuo could kill him later.

There was nothing normal about their situation so all assumptions along with everything they had ever known was essentially thrown out the window. No one knew anymore what to think.

Izaya had yet to wake up. Shinra had woken up to check on him many times during the night. Shizuo hadn't slept at all. He was acting like a watchdog and no one, not even Shizuo, understood the reason. In the morning, Shizuo had told Shinra that Izaya had shifted slightly or made a noise like a weak groan a couple of times during moments where Shinra had been asleep.

This information seemed to please Shinra even though he didn't voice it. Shinra had warned Shizuo that even though Izaya was doing much better, there was still need for concern. He said that it was possible Izaya could go into something called Rewarming Collapse, a form of shock that occurs sometimes in severely hypothermic patients while their body is being warmed up to a normal temperature.

He was also concerned after hearing from Simon about his apartment complex being engulfed in flames. It was obvious Izaya had been inside, even though he somehow miraculously managed to make it outside in time. The second-degree burn on his right hand, the soot on his skin, and the sound of his breathing made Shinra conclude that Izaya was suffering from smoke inhalation as well.

Shinra admitted that if Izaya lives, he could have other complications or show signs of psychological, cognitive, or motor damage when he wakes.

Shizuo didn't want to hear all that. He pushed it to the back of his mind. The Flea would be fine. He was always fine…Shizuo needed Izaya to be alright. "Fucking Flea." He ran his hand into his hair and pulled on it. "You stupid idiot…Why did you run away…"

There were sounds of slight movement from the unconscious raven, more than there had been previously. Shizuo opened his scrunched eyes and looked at the other male.

Izaya was squirming if only barely. Shizuo waited and stared, seeing if Izaya would calm down on his own. His movements continued and he seemed to be becoming gradually more restless. His eyeslids squeezing tight, a frown slightly formed, and Shizuo watched as his hand, which had not been under the mountain of blankets on top of him, started clawing at the fabric.

"…Izaya?" Shizuo leaned down closer to the raven. His voice seemed to agitate Izaya more, as if it surprised him. The fact that Izaya had reacted at all made Shizuo wonder. "…Oi…You awake?"

Izaya's body responded to the sound of Shizuo's voice by twitching his head in the direction the sound had come from.

"Shinra…?" Shizuo called for the doctor who was seated next to Celty at the table.

Shinra perked up and looked over at Shizuo, an eyebrow raised. Shizuo motioned for the doctor to approach, which he did at once. He kneeled in his usual spot next to Izaya, who he now noticed was moving.

"Is he waking up?" Shizuo asked.

Shinra touched Izaya's shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "Izaya? Can you hear us?" Since he seemed to twitch at every word, it seemed he could hear them but was having trouble waking up.

Izaya attempted to move his arm, reaching lazily for the oxygen mask on his face. It seemed though that he didn't have the strength to reach his face and his hand slumped next to his head. He tried again to feel what was on his face.

Shinra chuckled "No, no. That stays there." He said as he put Izaya's arm back to his side still holding onto his hand. "Can you squeeze my hand, Izaya?"

Izaya didn't do what Shinra had asked but his head still twitched in the direction of Shinra's voice, implying he registered a noise but didn't understand what it was or what Shinra had said.

Shizuo, who was observing the whole interaction, bent down attempting something that had worked the previous time he couldn't get Izaya to react. The blond put his hand to Izaya's cheek. Izaya's initial reaction was to pull away slightly but Shizuo put his other hand on Izaya's other cheek and the raven seemed to relax more.

"Can you open your eyes, Flea?" He asked and Izaya's eyelids twitched. "Come on. You can do it…Izaya."

His eyelids twitched more and a groan escaped his throat, as if he was trying to do as they asked and open his eyes.

Shizuo felt his face heat up with the realization that everyone in the room was staring at him cupping Izaya's face. He didn't want them to get the wrong idea so he turned his head to glare at them. They all instantly averted their eyes, except for Erika who was then turned away by both Kyohei and Walker. Turning back to Izaya, he lightly moved a thumb to rub Izaya's cheek and even though he knew the others weren't watching anymore, he still felt his face heat up even more.

Izaya seemed to melt into Shizuo's touch and after squeezing his eyes tight one last time, he started slowly opening them to reveal a pair of red-brown eyes. Although his eyes were still half-closed and held signs of exhaustion, it was obvious Izaya was looking directly at him.

The sides of Shizuo's mouth slid upwards slightly. "Welcome back."

"Nn…?" Izaya tried to look around, trying to understand.

Shinra was smiling at Shizuo, although it was more of a sly grin. Shizuo glanced up at the doctor and furrowed his brow.

"What?" Shizuo snapped.

Shinra chuckled and then shook his head. "It's nothing."

Shizuo gave him one last glare and then looked back down at Izaya as the raven reached up to hold onto Shizuo's arm, attempting to pull himself closer to the blond. "Just relax, Izaya. You're okay." He said and rubbed his thumb over Izaya's cheek some more as it seemed to have a calming effect on the other male.

Izaya relaxed almost instantly at the touch.

* * *

AuthorNote: Friggin' adorable. Stay tuned for the next update, peeps~


	7. Chapter 7 - Communication Disconnect

Our Armageddon  
Chapter Seven

**AuthorNote**: Hey! Hey! Look! Another chapter! Yay!  
Thanks to everyone who is reading this fic! And special thanks to everyone who reviews, favs, follows, etc. etc.!

Onward.

* * *

"Would someone go tell those three they should come back inside…" Shinra grumbled. "They've been out there long enough…Probably longer than they should have."

"You're the one who sent them out." Erika mumbled.

"Yeah. But they need to come back _inside _now." Shinra stated.

Walker jumped into the conversation. "I don't think Masaomi wants to talk to _us _right now."

"Maybe you should go tell them, Shinra." Erika smirked.

"But-" Shinra started and was saved by the sound of the door opening and closing. "Ah! Problem solved~"

Masaomi, clinging to Mikado for support, limped into the room with Anri straggling behind. Mikado's eyes were worriedly set on Masaomi while Anri seemed to be distancing herself entirely from him. Masaomi's face was unreadable, a nearly blank expression.

His eyes happened to pass over Izaya. The informant's position had been moved and he seemed to be using Shizuo's lap as a pillow now. Shizuo's face was beet red and his arms were crossed over his chest.

"He woke up?" Masaomi asked dully, a hint of annoyance evident.

Shizuo nodded. "He fell back asleep though."

Masaomi glared. "He should have died."

"Masaomi!" Mikado nudged his friend and they sat down on the sofa.

"What? That bastard causes nothing but misery," Masaomi's voice deadpanned. "We should have left him to freeze to death. He would have deserved it. Also, what the fuck, _Shizuo_, why the fuck are you being so _caring _towards _him_, _you _of all people should know better."

Shizuo didn't say anything, nor did he react in the slightest.

"Tch. Stupid…He's just going to backstab all of us later, including you." Masaomi was ready to say more but Shizuo interrupted his rampage.

"You shouldn't blame him for what happened to Saki," He stated. Masaomi's teeth clenched. "He wasn't at fault this time."

"Not directly! But if he hadn't-" Masaomi's voice faltered.

"_If he hadn't gotten her hurt in the first place, she might still be alive._ Is that what you were going to say?" Shizuo wasn't sure why he was speaking up for the raven but he felt the need to regardless. "**Might** is the important word, isn't it?"

"Why are you defending him?!" Masaomi's voice was rising.

Shizuo shrugged. "Why didn't you protect Saki?"

Shizuo's words cut through Masaomi like a knife. They both instantly stopped the argument. The room fell into an awkward silence and no one really knew what to do or say, afraid of setting Masaomi off again. Strangely enough, Shizuo was the calm one this time.

A thud ended up breaking the silence. Erika and Walker looked over to find Kyohei had slid from his spot leaning up against the wall and was now on his side on the floor.

Erika sighed and casually walked over and kneeled next to Kyohei, Walker doing the same. "Honestly…who falls asleep like that?" Erika poked his cheek.

Walker lightly grabbed his arm and shook Kyohei in an attempt to wake him up so they could call him an idiot. "Hm…" Walker was unsuccessful so he shook his shoulder some more but Kyohei still wouldn't wake up. "…Heavy sleeper?"

Erika was getting frustrated and leaned right next to his ear. "KYOHEI! TIME TO WAKE UP!" She yelled and snickered when Kyohei lifted his head, surprised. "Morning~"

He stared at the other two, blinking and rubbing his eyes, basically keeping them closed. "Such a fucking headache…" he grumbled. "Too much light in here."

Erika raised an eyebrow. "You're crazy. There's barely any light in here at all."

"Kyohei…Maybe you should actually do what Shinra told you to do and _rest_. Leave the supply gathering to us." Walker tried to reason.

"I'm fine." Kyohei said as his eyes started to drift close again. Erika poked his cheek again and he reopened them.

"You're a stubborn ass," She said. "Who also has a concussion."

"It's been over 24 hours." Kyohei resumed his former position with his back against the wall.

"But you still have symptoms, don't you?" Erika asked and continued before Kyohei could argue. "Were you even listening to _why _24 hours is important or did you just make up something in that thick skull of yours? You're only supposed to start doing things again 24 hours after symptoms are gone. You still have symptoms, so you should still be resting, which you didn't even do in the first place!"

"How do you know all this crap?" Kyohei stared at her.

"Shinra told me," Erika shifted. "Also I was overhearing him talk to you while he was fixing up your noggin."

Kyohei glared at Erika and Walker.

"Whatever, I'll just get us lunch. Not that there's much choice, but do you have preferences?" Erika stood up and looked down at the two men still seated on the floor.

Walker's mouth drooled. "Simon had a package with some fatty tuna when he arrived. Is it still around?"

Erika raised an eyebrow. "No. We threw it out. It went bad…" She started walking away. "Never mind. You'll eat what I give you."

Erika entered the kitchen where they kept most of their food supply, giving Shizuo and Izaya a hopeful look on her way passed. Regardless that the refrigerator was no longer cold enough, they decided to use it as a place to store non-perishable food anyway.

After a few moments of trying to decide what to make for everyone, since she was certain they were _all_ hungry, Celty entered to give her a hand. After a bit of a conversation with Celty's chicken scratched writing, Erika was glad she had come to help, her company was calming.

"It must be frustrating, huh?" Erika said as the two of them attempted to make something similar to tuna melts using canned tuna and anything else that had yet to go bad.

Celty tilted her head to the side.

"Your PDA is dead. You were used to using that."

Celty made a motion that looked like she was laughing. She then wrote something in her notebook, showing it to Erika soon after. [We all have to be adaptable.]

Erika smiled and nodded. The two of them quickly finished, went back in the other room, and started handing out their concoction. As Erika handed Walker his plate, his eye twitched. "You wanted tuna, didn't you?" She held a sly grin as Walker took his meal.

Celty handed Shinra his plate and wrote a note as well. [If you hate it for real this time, I won't be offended. You don't have to pretend you like it but eat it anyway.]

Shinra giggled and took a bite as she walked away. He chewed for a moment and gagged but swallowed the food anyway. He looked around at the others and their expressions seemed just as equally repulsed or unimpressed.

When Celty kneeled down to Shizuo, he thanked her for the food. She also handed him a second plate to which Shizuo tilted his head questioningly. Celty pointed to Izaya. Shizuo nodded. "Yeah, I'll try to get him to eat it when he wakes up."

"Good luck with that, Shizuo," Shinra called over as he was still trying to choke down the odd tuna sandwich. "He's a picky eater…"

"Then I'll _make _him eat it by stuffing it down his throat…" Shizuo took a bite of his own sandwich, trying to hide his grimace. "This is…the sandwich I mean…it's-"

Shinra was hand signaling from across the room for Shizuo to not finish his thought.

"What I mean to say is I appreciate your…hard work." Shizuo choked down another bite. Celty waved a hand at Shizuo, telling him it was alright.

Shizuo had been so concentrated on the food that he jumped when Izaya's form was suddenly upright with the oxygen mask off and he was staring at the plate, more specifically the sandwich. The blond stopped in the middle of taking a bite.

"Huh…" Shizuo blinked at Izaya for a moment and then, remembering the second plate he had been given, handed it to Izaya. "Don't complain about it. Just eat it. And eat it _all_, okay? If you don't, I'll shove it down your throat."

Izaya didn't say anything when he took his own meal. He only stared at it for a few seconds before he placed it on his lap, picked up half of the tuna sandwich and took a bite. He chewed and swallowed and then began devouring the rest of the half in a matter of seconds.

Shizuo blinked rapidly, not understanding what was going on. "I thought you said he was a 'picky eater?!'"

Shinra who was just as surprised stared in awe as well. "I-uh…huh…He's hungry…I guess…"

As Izaya picked up the other half and looked to be about to devour it in just as little time, Shizuo grabbed one of his wrists and prevented him from taking a bite for a moment. "Just don't choke and die, okay?" Izaya was struggling against Shizuo's hold. "Hey, I'm going to be the one to kill you, rememb- Ow! What the fuck, Flea!?"

Izaya had bitten down on Shizuo's hand - Shizuo having let up too much on his grasp, allowing Izaya to reach him.

"What are you doing? Let go before I punch you!" Shizuo tried to get his hand out of Izaya's mouth but the informant wouldn't let up. "Damn it, Flea! Let. Me. Go. Now!" Shizuo waited a bit more and then let go of his grip on Izaya's wrist. Izaya promptly unhooked his teeth from Shizuo's flesh and immediately went to eating the rest of the sandwich.

Shizuo however put down his own sandwich on the plate and held his hand. Looking at it, it appeared to be bruising but at least Izaya hadn't broken his skin. Then he'd be _really _pissed off.

Shizuo shook his hand. "What was _that_?" Shizuo looked at Izaya, who didn't even acknowledge him. "After all I did while you were-" He stopped short when Shinra kneeled down in front of Izaya.

Izaya had already finished the second half of his sandwich and he moved the empty plate to the floor next to him. "Izaya?" Shinra spoke. Izaya looked away, avoiding Shinra entirely. "Look at me."

Izaya didn't motion to look at the doctor and for a moment seemed to be in deep thought. But as the doctor continued to stare, Izaya slowly moved his eyes to meet Shinra's own.

Shinra smiled. "That's better," He held out a hand. "Come with me to the other room for a moment." Izaya stared at the doctor's hand.

Shizuo snorted. "Careful, he might bite you too…"

"It'll only be a few minutes," Shinra grinned and looked over at Shizuo. "He'll come too."

"Like hell I will!" Shizuo grumbled, earning a venomous glare from Shinra. "Pft. Fine." Shizuo stood up, looking down at the Flea.

Izaya stood up as well after a moment, but still ignored Shinra's help to stand.

"Which room?" Shizuo asked, unenthused.

"Guest room." He answered and in a few moments, they had entered and the door was shut behind them.

Izaya looked around the room, not moving from his spot near the door. His fur-trimmed jacket slid down his shoulder slightly and he pulled it back up without thinking.

Shizuo pulled Shinra to the other side of the room. "Okay. What's going on?" He tried to keep his voice low but was failing miserably.

"Why do you assume something's going on?" Shinra smiled.

Shizuo glared. "You're kidding right?" He glanced over at the raven, as did Shinra.

"I don't know…_yet_." Shinra pulled his way out of Shizuo's grasp and walked back over to the informant. They stared at each other.

* * *

Izaya stared at Shinra.

Dreaming. Nothing felt real. He started wondering if he had actually died and this was the afterlife. He must have actually frozen to death and Shinra, Shizuo, and everyone else out there was dead too, all trapped in the same hell.

He didn't know why exactly he had bitten Shizuo. Or why he had eaten his sandwich so fast. It was as if his body and mind were no longer communicating in many instances. His body had been starving, Shizuo had prevented the food from reaching his mouth, Izaya bit Shizuo, Shizuo let go, Izaya let go, and then Izaya could continue to eat the sandwich.

Izaya's eyes went back to Shinra who was snapping his fingers in front of Izaya's face.

He could tell Shinra was speaking to him, he could even hear him and he understood the words he was saying. But Izaya couldn't decipher the meaning, so Shinra's questions felt as incoherent as the rest of the world.

After awhile of Shinra talking and Izaya not answering, or even responding, Shinra frowned. Izaya was searching his mind for what a frown meant. This was an easy one...but he couldn't connect the emotion to the expression even if he knew what they both were separately.

Izaya _wanted_ to speak, or communicate in anyway really, but felt unable to do so. Not only had he and the world been disconnected, but he had also been disconnected from himself.

He looked back at Shinra when he felt the other's grip on his arms. His face held an expression and Izaya started trying to guess what it meant. Was it sadness? Maybe worry? Was Shinra angry with him…?

"_You're shivering…" _were the incoherent words he said, directed at Izaya.

Shizuo had walked over by this point. "_Are you going to tell me what the fuck is going on or not, Shinra?_"

To Izaya it was similar to listening to a conversation in a language that wasn't his native Japanese but one that he had still studied. He could hear the sound of the language, he knew the words, he even understood the sentence structure, but he couldn't comprehend what they were talking about.

Shinra put a hand to his forehead. "_It's really hard to say…_" Shinra looked at Izaya again. "_It doesn't seem like he's got amnesia since I'm fairly certain he recognizes us. He can definitely hear, so it's not like he lost his hearing or anything. Since he hasn't even attempted to speak…or respond in any form…it seems to be some sort of communication issue…"_

Shizuo was now also looking directly at Izaya. "_So, what? He actually does have some sort of brain damage?_"

"_No, I don't think so,_"Shinra sighed. "_Maybe 'communication issue' was the wrong thing to say._ _It seems more psychological than that…If I had to guess, maybe he's disassociating?_"

"_I don't even know what the hell that word means."_ Shizuo grumbled.

Izaya was starting to feel tired and Shinra's grip was starting to bother him. He started trying to squirm out of the other man's hold, bringing attention to himself away from their conversation. Shinra started leading Izaya out of the guest room, and at first Izaya thought they would go back to where he had woken up, but they ended up in a bedroom instead.

There were more cardboard boxes filled with supplies in the bedroom. But most notably, there was a large pile of 'extra' clothes and winter wear on the bed. Izaya wasn't aware of his own shivering or the fact that he was even the slightest bit cold.

"_In the most simplistic way I can describe dissociation to you…basically he's detached himself from reality._" Shinra said as he shifted through the pile of clothes on the bed.

"_Wait…why?_" Shizuo looked at Izaya who stared up at him.

"_Trauma. We are all experiencing it. But Izaya must have been so terrified that his mind developed this…for lack of a better word, 'defense mechanism,' in order to protect him,_" Shinra explained. _"Everyone of us is dealing with this situation differently…"_

Shinra turned around to look at Izaya again, holding a few different pieces of clothing seemingly much warmer than what he currently had on. The doctor tilted his head, an eyebrow raised.

* * *

"Hm…I really have no idea what would fit him." Shinra dropped the clothes he had picked out into a small pile on the floor. He approached the raven and observed him more closely. "…You're really thin, aren't you?"

Shinra went to touch Izaya's jacket but the raven backed away and bumped his back against Shizuo. He turned to look at the blond and then back at Shinra. "Don't be an idiot, Flea. You need warmer clothes than what you're wearing." Shizuo spoke.

"I just need to take off your coat, Izaya." Shinra spoke and tried to reach for it again but was shrugged off. The doctor sighed.

Shizuo was annoyed. "This is ridiculous." The former bartender grabbed Izaya's coat from behind and pulled it off before the raven could have a chance to think about it. Izaya turned to look at him again, slightly shocked, but essentially unaffected.

Shinra grinned at the blond. "That's one way to do it." He then frowned, looking at Izaya's unusually thin build. Shinra tugged Izaya's shirt back onto the correct place on his shoulder. "He went without food for awhile…I wonder if he drank or even slept in the time _before_ the earthquake and today."

"Probably want to hurry up before he makes the whole building collapse from his shivering…" Shizuo mumbled, trying to get Shinra back on track. Shinra nodded, adjusted his glasses, and turned back to the pile of clothes he left on the floor.

"Everything will be loose on him but oh well." He shrugged and returned to the Informant with two wool sweaters. One was deep red and one was off-white, both of them had some imperfections to say the least. "Raise your arms over your head." When Izaya didn't budge, Shizuo sighed and went to help. Izaya twitched slightly as Shizuo grabbed his arms and assisted Shinra in getting the white sweater on first.

Izaya didn't squirm too much and once it was on, he seemed to be investigating the piece of clothing. He looked at it on himself, touching at it, and even sniffing it at one point. Once he found the large hole in the elbow, he started pulling at the loose threads.

While he was distracted, Shinra started to get the red sweater on Izaya, this time with less help from Shizuo as now Izaya seemed to be somewhat cooperative. Shizuo went over to the pile, picked up a black wool winter coat and threw it towards Shinra and Izaya who both looked down at it.

The doctor went to pick it up but stopped short when he heard voices escalating in the other room. A few seconds later, there was a loud thud that sounded like someone had hit the floor. Shinra sighed, straightening himself. "Honestly…Will I ever get a break..." He hurried out of the bedroom and closed the door behind him.

Izaya stared at the door for a bit before turning to look at Shizuo who was staring at him. "Put on the coat." Shizuo demanded. He didn't move and continued to stare. Shizuo pointed down toward the coat, Izaya's eyes followed. "You're helpless…" Sighing heavily, Shizuo marched over, forced the coat onto Izaya, and started buttoning the six brass buttons that formed an unconnected rectangle.

He stood and looked at the raven whose eyes wouldn't leave Shizuo's face. The coat actually looked semi-feminine on him but in some odd way it was cute. The debt collectors face turned pink and he turned away angrily, looking through the pile once again.

Stupid Flea. He was in no way cute. He instantly felt weird when that thought had crossed his mind. "Push the thought away, push it away…" Shizuo grumbled to himself quietly.

The thought persisted. Shizuo continued to sift through the pile of winter gear aimlessly, his mind in an entirely different place. He didn't notice the footsteps approaching from behind.

"Damn Flea. He's such a pain in the ass." He whispered to himself, his blush was still present and it was starting to piss him off.

There was suddenly a slight pressure pushing against his back that startled Shizuo. He turned around to look at what it was.

* * *

Izaya hadn't expected dead people to be able to touch each other in the afterlife. But the thought sprang to mind that _they_ had been the ones to touch _him_. Could _he _touch _them_? He had bitten Shizuo yet he still wasn't convinced.

He watched as Shizuo threw a fit, tossing clothes around on the bed. Izaya wanted to know if he could touch other dead people too, so he approached the riled bartender. He stood for a moment behind the other male. He twitched his right hand. It was all bandaged up but still hurt.

Lifting up his uninjured hand, Izaya placed it on Shizuo's back. He felt him tense for a moment and then relax. So, he _could _touch others. Maybe he would have to rethink his theory of being in the afterlife. He had eaten a sandwich previously. Dead people wouldn't need to eat, he would assume. His hand hurt from the burn and if he were dead, why would he feel pain? Being able to feel anything was an odd sensation.

His memories started flooding his mind. It wasn't like he had forgotten them; it was more as if he just didn't remember them before. What was the last thing he remembered clearly?

He remembered standing in the alleyway with Shizuo and then everything after that started feeling hazy and dreamlike. He felt there were not a lot of pieces in his memory missing, but most everything after the chase with Shizuo, after they had stopped to rest, didn't feel real.

Regardless, he couldn't think of an instance that he had actually died, whether it felt real or not. But then the pieces that _were _missing made him doubt that. The earthquake. Fire. The bridge. There were blank spots, too many of them.

Shizuo turned around and look at him. Izaya's eyes widened. "You okay, Flea?"

The Informant's breath caught in his throat. He had understood those words. He had heard that exact question before. It was unclear to him where or when but Shizuo had asked that same question.

"Izaya?" Shizuo said his name. His name…Izaya. "Say something…" The other's expression looked drained as if he had asked him to do something impossible.

After another moment of staring wide-eyed at Shizuo, Izaya's expression contorted. His eyes started feeling damp and he felt something drip down his face.

"Hey! What…! Izaya, why are you…crying?" Shizuo looked as confused as Izaya must have looked.

Izaya leaned his forehead against Shizuo's chest and then brought his arms up and around Shizuo's waist. The other male tensed up, shocked by his behavior. It wasn't like him. This wasn't like him. He was scared. Really terrified. He didn't want to be alone over and over and over again through this hell. He clung tighter, his fingers digging into the back of Shizuo's shirt.

His frame shook with sobs. What the hell was wrong with him? It hurt. It really hurt. He was suffocating. He couldn't even tell if he was alive or dead anymore, if this was reality or a nightmare.

He drew in a shaky breath. "Sh-Shizu-chan…" He clenched his eyes shut. "Help me."

After another few seconds, he felt Shizuo wrap his arms around Izaya, pulling him closer. He continued to hold him without a word as Izaya silently sobbed, his body shaking every so often from tension.

Maybe he wouldn't have to be alone again. But Izaya was still afraid to hope for such an improbability.

* * *

To be continued...

**AuthorNote**: This chapter was written a bit oddly for various reasons! Hope you guys still followed what was going on and enjoyed it. :D


	8. Chapter 8 - Canine Territory

Our Armageddon  
Chapter 8

AuthorNote: HEEEEEY I'M A JERK I KNOW I TAKE FOREVER TO UPDATE. It's because I have the attention span of a pigeon and the memory of a goldfish. I also wanted to give myself more buffer by writing more chapters so I don't disappear for TOO long. AND LOOK HOW WELL THAT PLAN WORKED! (jk...orz)

Anywho, thanks to ALL MY READERS, REVIEWERS, FOLLOWERS, AND FAVer's. You are all amazing and special~

It's also taking longer the more chapters that happen because I tend to write then re-read EVERYTHING from the beginning and obsessively edit (eventho I STILL miss SOME spelling/grammar things. give me a break peopleI'mdoingthebestIcandon'thatemedon'tblameme) AND THEN I WRITE ANOTHER CHAPTER AFTER DOING ALL THAT.

THE POINT IS I'M INSANE. There. It has been said.

OKAY NOW HAVE FUN READING.

* * *

Shinra easily held back Masaomi while Celty struggled to pull Kyohei to his feet. When Shinra had reentered the room, Masaomi had been venomously taunting and throwing random items at Kyohei while trying to limp towards him. Kyohei had somehow ended up tumbling to the floor before Shinra had arrived.

"Someone explain now!" Shinra yelled and pushed Masaomi onto the sofa. Mikado and Anri stood at a distance, worry plastered on their faces.

Celty finally got Kyohei to stand but Erika and Walker had to hold him upright.

Simon cleared his throat. "Kyohei make comment. Kida get very angry, yell and throw things at Kyohei."

Shinra turned to Kyohei. "What the hell did you say…?"

Kyohei blushed, flustered. "I was trying to apologize!" Kyohei huffed. "About…Sa-"

"Don't fucking say her name!" Masaomi screamed as he stood again but nearly fell when pain shot up his leg. Shinra pushed him back down rather roughly with one hand.

The group was silent for a moment. All eyes gravitated to Shinra. "We can't fight like this. We have to work _together_ to survive whatever is going on out in the world."

"We're already completely screwed, Shinra!" Masaomi yelled again. "Look at us! Look out there! Have you even been outside recently?"

Shinra glared at Masaomi. "We are still alive." Shinra spoke. "As long as we're alive, there's still a chance of survival. As long as we don't throw fits like _children, _as long as we can at least put up with each other, we have a chance. We are _not _screwed."

Masaomi looked to be opening his mouth again but Mikado clamped his hand over it in an attempt to calm him down, or at least shut him up.

"Kyohei," Shinra now glared at the other offending party. "Rest until your damn concussion is gone."

"But-" Kyohei stopped himself when Shinra's glare didn't let up. He bit his lip to prevent himself from arguing.

Shinra sighed and put a hand to his forehead. "What time is it anyway? Some of you should go for another supply run...I need to sleep." He began to lazily head for his bedroom, ready to push the pile of clothes from it but as he entered the hall, he rammed right into Shizuo.

"Can I talk to you?" Shizuo whispered.

Shinra's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "Can it wait?"

Shizuo blinked a couple times. "Um…"

"Is it life threatening?" Shinra asked, unamused.

"…No." the blond moved out of Shinra's way, gently pushing Izaya out of the way as well.

"Then talk to me after I've slept a bit more." Shinra disappeared into his bedroom.

Celty walked up to Shizuo while scribbling something in her book. [He's just stressed and tired. Don't worry. It wasn't you.]

"Good to know…" He noticed the unease between the now more dispersed groups. Erika, Walker, and Simon were getting ready to go out again. Mikado and Anri seemed to be trying to console Masaomi, who slumped as far as he could into the couch.

Kyohei was drumming his fingers on the table, grudgingly looking at the others who were preparing to go out to scavenge some more.

Celty waved her hand to reacquire Shizuo's attention. [What went on in here also has nothing to do with you.] She noticed Izaya peering out from behind Shizuo and then wrote something else and showed it to the blond. [You wanted to talk to Shinra about something. Would I do instead?]

He nodded after the three scavengers for the afternoon passed by them. Once they had left and were outside, Celty, Shizuo, and Izaya sat down at the table. Kyohei was at the other end, his head settling on his arms, which were crossed in front of himself.

[Let's write here as to not disturb the others.] Celty wrote and passed the notebook and pencil to Shizuo.

[Good luck deciphering my handwriting.] Shizuo wrote.

Celty looked like she was laughing. [Ditto.]

[Izaya spoke.] Shizuo wrote.

Celty straightened. [Why is that significant?]

He scratched the back of his head. [When Shinra and I took him to the guest room, it was because Shinra was suspicious of something. He said something about Izaya being disconnected from reality and was having a hard time communicating because of it. He wouldn't talk, he would hardly react to anything. But after Shinra left to come out here for whatever reason, Izaya acted a bit differently. He barely said a sentence. And I can't get him to say anything else.]

[Different how?]

Shizuo hesitated writing anything, glancing over at Izaya sitting next to him. He was blankly looking at the surface of the table. [I can't really describe it…but I'm confused about what he said.] Celty read what he wrote and motioned for him to continue. [All he said was, "Shizu-chan - Help me." And I'm not sure what he meant.]

Shizuo had decided to leave out the part about Izaya crying. And also about himself trying to comfort the other male in an embrace. He left out the part about how it felt warm as opposed to being repulsive, which is what he would have thought hugging the Flea would have felt like.

All three of them jumped when out of the blue, Kyohei shifted in his spot and yawned loudly. He looked up and over at them, furrowed his brow, and then promptly fell back asleep.

Shizuo turned to Izaya who had put his hand on his back again, leaning slightly towards the blond. When Izaya noticed Shizuo looking at him, he yanked his hand away and continued to stare at the table.

The former bartender turned back to Celty, prepared to keep writing. But Celty looked to be frozen in place. Shizuo's mouth was agape and Celty slid the notebook back to herself, plucked the pencil from Shizuo's hand and started writing.

She showed him what she had written a few minutes later. [Don't tell me Erika has been right all along?]

"What?!" Shizuo popped out of his seat, his face turning uncontrollably red. His chair tipped over and crashed to the floor. Celty waved for him to sit back down, but he didn't comply. Celty's statement was embedding itself into his mind and he knew he would start to obsess over it if he let it. He really felt the need all of a sudden to talk to Kasuka.

Kasuka whose fate was still unknown.

Shizuo felt a pang of guilt caressing him. He'd already wasted too much time _not_ looking for his little brother. What the fuck was he doing? He should have been out looking for him ever since the third quake!

He needed to go. He needed to start looking now.

Shizuo put on a couple extra layers and readied himself to go outside. Celty was trying to write as fast as she could and show him what she was writing, but Shizuo pushed her book away without reading it.

Even Izaya stood up, watching him.

He turned to Celty. "I've got to start looking for my brother, Kasuka. I'll be back before it gets dark." He said and then rushed to the door. Right before he closed it, he saw Izaya standing frozen to one place, staring at him from the living room.

* * *

Erika seemed to lead the way with Walker and Simon close behind.

Why they had ended up at Raira Academy was a mystery to them all. Wandering the vacant halls was becoming increasingly eerie. Broken glass crunched under their boots and flakes of snow drifted in from the shattered windows.

They looked inside the classrooms but there really wasn't a lot they could use. The Academy hadn't been open at the time of the third earthquake but there was no way to know how hard it had been hit the first two times.

Erika stopped and stood looking around in the hallway for a bit. Walker opened another classroom door and walked inside. Simon walked up behind Erika at the window who was now focusing on a couple of stray dogs doing battle with one another in the open space below. "Pretty amazing, huh?" She spoke. "Those dogs, you know they probably had owners before all this."

"How is it amazing?" Simon asked.

A few other dogs were in the area, chowing down on something as a group. Eventually the two dogs stopped fighting and they both went to have their meal, the losing dog waiting until the others were finished. "No remorse." She said, barely above a whisper.

Simon stared at the woman and eventually she looked up, gave him a smile, and turned as Walker came out of the classroom and was ready to open the next. He went to open the door but it wouldn't slide open. Walker put his other hand on it and tried to pull it harder, then harder, and finally with all his force but the door was jammed.

He fell to a seated position and sighed. "I'm getting tired. How about this is the last one we check here, if we can get it open, and then go somewhere else?"

Simon walked over to the door and kicked it in. When the cloud of disturbed snow settled, Simon turned his head away with a grimace. Erika's face scrunched up in disgust.

Walker pulled himself up and looked in. "Holy shit!" He tried to look away but it was difficult. "That's fucked up…"

In front of them were a group of high-schoolers, clinging to each other for dear life. The windows behind them had broken and the room provided no shelter at all from the cold. They had three bags around them, two backpacks and a tote bag, which from what they could tell were full of all sorts of supplies.

Erika stepped into the room, trying to avoid the lifeless stares of the former students. She opened the backpacks one at a time. The first backpack had a few flashlights, batteries, matches, a hand-crank radio, a few tools, and a folded up map. The other backpack was full of mini bottles of water and although they were frozen, she was pretty certain the water inside would still be drinkable if melted. The tote bag had a lot of food, most if not all of it was probably still good.

"They were fucking trapped in here…" Walker whispered from behind Erika.

Erika stood up and handed Walker the tote bag, while she slung one of the backpacks over one of her own shoulders. "Don't tell them." She whispered.

"Don't tell who?" Walker was getting fidgety. He really wanted to leave the room and the entire school for that matter.

"Masaomi, Mikado, and Anri." Erika said as she put the second backpack on her other shoulder. "They probably knew these kids."

"What this?" Simon asked, brushing snow off something towards the center of the room.

Erika trotted over, Walker following her after peeling himself away from stares of the dead. "No way…is that a fucking kerosene heater?! A portable one?" She squealed.

Walker looked it over. "Yeah, but it's out of kerosene."

Simon picked it up. "We find more kerosene then. But not today. It is getting dark now."

Erika nodded, leading the way out and back to their base.

* * *

Shizuo had covered as much ground as he possibly could but his brother was still nowhere to be seen. He had been hurrying around what was left of Ikebukuro all afternoon. The city was barely recognizable. Not only had much of it been turned to rubble, but a blanket of snow seemed to have accumulated over the passed couple of days. It wasn't terribly deep in most areas but sometimes Shizuo would unintentionally find a snowdrift that was significantly deeper.

Shizuo stopped and put his hands on his bent knees. He yelled his brother's name one last time and waited for a response that he didn't receive. His shadow was so stretched on the ground at this point that he knew he needed to head back. His face scrunched and he realized he'd have to continue tomorrow because if he froze to death in the night air, it would do Kasuka no good either.

Looking around him, he realized he really wasn't certain where he was in the city.

He looked behind him and decided to just follow his footprints captured by the snow in order to find his way.

There was one issue with this method that Shizuo finally figured out when he came upon the problem. In places where the snow had been extremely shallow, his footprints were missing because the wind had drifted them away. At this point he tried going to memory but everyone, even himself, knew his memory recall was often shit. He ended up wandering more than he had hoped he would and by the time the sky had turned dark purple and red, Shizuo was on his way to panicking.

He growled, stopping in place once again. He scratched his head under his hat and reached for a cigarette, lighting one up and taking in the sweet nicotine. Briefly glancing into the near empty pack, he growled again. "I'm going to have to find more eventually…"

There was an angry bark in front of him and Shizuo looked up at a dog, snarling at him and showing his teeth.

Shizuo tensed, his rage was growing. "Dumb dog."

Hearing more snarls from nearby, he realized this dog must be part of a pack and it made Shizuo smirk. There may no longer be color gangs but now the dogs were forming packs. City of Dogs, huh?

Shizuo took a step back as the closest dog lunged at him. "Oi! Piss off, dog!"

The dog snarled at him more so Shizuo snarled back, returning the favor. Oddly enough the dog backed away, shrinking back to his pack. After the dogs stared at their failed prey for a moment, they ran off with each other.

"Is that Shizuo?" Walker's voice made the blond turn towards the trio headed towards him, their trip apparently successful.

"Shizuo!" Erika called happily. "What are you doing out here?"

"Hm?" Shizuo finished his cigarette and threw it into a snow bank. "Tch…I've been looking for my brother." He said looking away.

"But it get dark now." Simon stated. "You search tomorrow?"

Shizuo nodded. "No shit." He grumbled. "Also, this is lucky. Since I was entirely lost."

"That's why we go in groups, stupid." Erika smirked.

Walker looked around, not seeing Kasuka. "You didn't find him, did you?"

"Were you listening to _any _of this conversation?!" Shizuo's rage was rising again.

"Eh? No, no, no! That's not what I meant!" Walker shrunk away holding the tote bag almost as if it was a shield. "I was just making sure that-"

"He's _not dead." _Shizuo said between his clenched teeth.

Walker tried to increase the distance between himself and Shizuo, mildly fearing for his life.

"We go now. It getting dark." Simon said from ahead of the two men. Erika was already hurrying towards the apartment.

Shizuo and Walker hurried to catch up although Walker still kept himself alert. The Beast of Ikebukuro was still terrifying at times and he could still smash him to pieces if he wanted.

* * *

AuthorNote: I'll try harder to be a good author-san... OH BY THE WAY, the last chapter I added incorrectly but changed it after like idk a day or something. The line breaks were missing originally and it made it harder to read because of that (i think?). I had forgotten fanfic doesn't keep the line breaks in my files when I upload them to here so I went back and re-added them in. Point is that chapter has been fixed and has been fixed for awhile.

SEE YA NEXT CHAPTER MY LOVELIES!


	9. Chapter 9 - What's Hidden Inside

Our Armageddon  
Chapter 9

AuthorNote: I'm back with another chapter~

Enjoy, have fun, and all that good stuff~

(As always thank you to everyone who reads, reviews, favs, or follows this fic! Love you guys!

ONWARD WITH THE CHAPTER!

* * *

Izaya was pacing around the apartment as he had been for many hours now. At first, it was a source of curiosity for the other members of the group but as the hours went on like this Izaya was grating on their nerves.

A couple hours into his pacing, Izaya started mumbling incoherently, which was worrisome in and of itself. Once in a while, he would stand and stare at a closed door. Not any one door in particular, but at one of these moments he was dead silent, almost as if he were listening to an intense conversation coming from the other side.

The rest of the group knew better. There wasn't anyone else in the apartment besides those in the living room and Shinra, who was in his bedroom. Celty had checked up on him at one point. When she returned to the living room, she had told them that Shinra was more than fine; he seemed to be very snug under the mountain of clothes, which he had neglected to push off the bed.

No one really felt like being the one to say anything to Izaya, or to calm down the seemingly anxious man, and no one dared to risk him or herself to tell him just to stop.

Luckily Masaomi had fallen asleep curled under a blanket. Mikado and Anri sat on either side of him wrapped in their own blankets, acting as a barrier. The last thing they needed was for Masaomi to attack Izaya or for Izaya to attack Masaomi, the latter more likely at this moment.

Kyohei's eyes followed Izaya around the room. He was still at the table except he was awake now and bored so at least Izaya was a mild form of amusement. It was similar to sitting on a park bench and 'people watching,' the normal and healthy version of Izaya's 'human observation.' However, it wasn't really 'people watching' when the only one he was watching was Izaya.

He sighed and rearranged his blanket, taking his eyes off of Izaya for a moment. When he looked back he saw Izaya was reaching for something under the couch. When he pulled out the object, Kyohei tensed up a bit but continued watching.

Izaya sat down against the back of the sofa and fiddled with the newly discovered object. He flicked open the blade and tilted his head to the side. Kyohei looked over to Celty to make sure she was paying attention as well. She was watching Izaya like a hawk, ready to intervene if it was needed.

The man with the switchblade pushed the blade back in only to flick it out again a few seconds later. He continued to do this, flicking the blade in and out, over and over again. Anri and Mikado twitched each time they heard the sound from behind them.

He flicked it out a final time and after a moment of looking at the blade he raised it up and brought it down to the floor, piercing the wood and leaving a long, thin hole once he pulled the knife back. He stabbed the floor again and continued to repeat this action with a twisted expression planted on his face.

When Izaya raised the knife to go for another stab, Celty grabbed his wrist, stopping him and turning him around. He was smiling but his eyes were wide a mixture of confusion, excitement, and something that looked like fear. Kyohei tried to pry the switchblade from Izaya's fingers but just before he could get it away from the other man, Izaya broke free from Celty's grasp, in the process slicing Kyohei's hand.

Kyohei hissed and held his hand. It was bleeding a lot but it didn't look that deep...or at least not life-threatening. He'd live.

Shinra peeked out from the bedroom, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. His brain was yet to comprehend what was going on. He had also forgotten his glasses near the bed. Seeing something odd was going on with his blurry vision, he rushed back to retrieve his glasses.

In the time it took him to get back into the hallway, the front door opened and today's scavengers entered. They were staring at whatever was going on in the living room and Shinra finally realized Celty had her shadows wrapped around Izaya's wrist. He was struggling to get his hand out of her hold and when Shinra's eyes gravitated to the raven's hand the doctor felt a shiver run down his spine. Izaya was holding his switchblade, which he had totally forgotten about in all the commotion of his arrival.

"Not here!" His sentences weren't making sense. "…It's dying…going away…finished, finished, finished!" he laughed maniacally at his broken sentences.

Shizuo, who was in the back of the returning group, pushed past everyone who wasn't moving or talking or doing anything at all about the situation. He approached Izaya until he was standing right in front of the raven. They stared at each other and then told Celty to release his hand, a request she hesitantly granted.

Izaya didn't move and stared at Shizuo even after Celty let go of him. Nor did he loosen his grip on his switchblade, which was tight even though he was using his bandaged hand. He shifted and stood up straighter so he was facing Shizuo entirely.

Without warning, Shizuo raised his hand and smacked Izaya across his face, being careful to only use enough force for it to hurt but not injure the other male. Izaya stayed in the position in which he had been hit, his head turned away. The grip on his knife loosened and eventually it slipped from his hand and hit the floor. Celty used her shadows to get the knife away from Izaya as quickly as possible, bringing it to her own hand and snapping the blade down.

Everyone watched Izaya, even Masaomi who was awoken by the incident, to see what he would do next. After a minute, Izaya brought a hand up to his red, stinging cheek then slowly turned his head to look Shizuo directly in the eyes.

"Pull shit like that again and you're on your own. Understand?" Shizuo stated plainly. Izaya's whole body was racked with tremors but he nodded weakly. Shizuo then shot glares to the others still staring at them, making them look away and slowly disperse.

"Fucking whack job." Masaomi muttered as he curled back under his blanket.

Shinra looked around the group, his eyes avoiding Shizuo and Izaya who were still in the process of confronting each other. "Did he hurt anyone?"

Celty looked over at Kyohei and Shinra's eyes followed. Kyohei grimaced and hid his hands in his coat pockets once he noticed Shinra's incredulous look. The doctor approached the other man who was looking away, trying to play it off as nothing.

Shinra crossed his arms over his chest. "How bad is it?"

"It's not. I'm fine." Kyohei glared earning a sigh from Shinra.

"Just like your how your concussion was _fine_?" It wasn't a question, Shinra made sure to emphasize it as such. "Listen, even if it isn't bad enough to warrant concern right now, I'd rather take preventative care."

"Like I said, it's not bad." Kyohei grumbled.

"You're not listening. At least let me see it." Shinra smiled, his eyes not leaving Kyohei as he shifted uncomfortably.

He rolled his eyes and pulled out his injured hand from his pocket. Shinra adjusted his glasses, looking at the cut.

"It's not _that_ deep." Shinra stated and continued before Kyohei could get in a word. "I want to clean it regardless. I don't want to risk it getting infected."

"Shinra, it's not-" Kyohei snorted but shut his mouth when Shinra shot him another glare.

"The more we can prevent any of us from getting sick or hurt in the first place, the better." Shinra turned and waved a hand signaling for Kyohei to follow, which he did grudgingly.

They entered the guest room and shut the door. Shinra readied the supplies he would need as Kyohei took a seat, zoning out the uncovered window for a moment. It was snowing again, lightly, but it unnerved Kyohei and he wasn't sure why. Was it because the snow seemed too frequent? Or was it because it seemed to be getting colder each passing day? Even for winter it didn't feel normal. Or was it something else entirely?

Kyohei flinched and turned his attention back to Shinra who was already cleaning the cut on his hand he received from Izaya. Whatever the doctor was using on his wound, made it sting worse than it had before.

Shinra's eyes were downcast, far away. Kyohei felt slightly worried. "You okay?"

The doctor stopped what he was doing for a moment as his mind jumped back to reality. He looked up at Kyohei, seemingly trying to choose his words carefully. He opened and shut his mouth a few times before he spoke. "I'm concerned."

"You serious? My cut isn't bad at all…" Kyohei raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"What? Oh, no, you're right. You'll be fine." Shinra started putting on a bandage to protect the cut from getting dirty. "What happened out there just now?"

Kyohei tilted his head to the side. "Oh. You were asleep for awhile," He looked away. "I don't even know really. It started when Shizuo left. 'Said something about looking for Kasuka. Seemed sudden but I get it…these passed few days or weeks or whatever! I don't even know how much time has passed," He shook his head slightly. "Anyway, that's when Izaya started…"

Shinra waited for a moment, but it seemed Kyohei was trying to figure out how to describe what he had seen. "Izaya started doing what? Is that when he pulled the knife out?"

"No, no…It's _weirder_ than that. More confusing. He started walking around, mumbling, he seemed to be listening to conversations that weren't happening. Sometimes it looked like he was seeing things or interacting with something that wasn't there." Kyohei put his uninjured hand to his mouth. "I looked away for a second and that's when he found his switchblade, under the sofa. 'Started flicking the blade in and out, in and out."

"What was the expression on his face?" Shinra asked.

Kyohei furrowed his brow at the odd wording of the doctor's question. "Uh, he seemed…I don't know fascinated, confused, afraid? It was hard to fucking tell. He was smiling but…" Shinra nodded and Kyohei continued. "He stabbed the shit out of your floor by the way. When Celty tried to stop him, he turned on us instead. I don't know what else to tell you. He seems really...you know."

Shinra snorted. "Izaya's been straddling a fine line for awhile now. It really doesn't surprise me that all _this_," Shinra waved his hands in the air. "would push him over the edge."

"And so you're concerned why then? I mean, if you aren't surprised by it happening then-" Kyohei pressed for more of an explanation.

"Izaya being Izaya, however un-Izayaesque he is, he's still unpredictable." Shinra rubbed his eyes under his glasses. "I said it wasn't surprising, not that it _wasn't concerning_, because it is concerning…very much so to me. If you must know, I'm worried about how much more unstable he has become."

"Meaning…?"

Shinra grumbled. "I'm not sure, honestly," He looked up at Kyohei, who could now see the dark circles under his eyes. "What you just told me…please don't share it yet with the others. _Especially_ not Masaomi."

"Huh…" Kyohei nodded. "Don't want Masaomi to have more fuel for hatred?"

Shinra sighed. "Yeah."

* * *

Celty, Walker, and Anri stared with frustration at the assortment of food in the kitchen. They were fussing over what to fix up that wouldn't taste horrible for everyone who needed to eat the inevitable meal.

Erika, on the other hand, was fussing with the still frozen bottles of water, debating how to melt the ice inside the containers. The water seemed to be thawing somewhat, even if slowly, which was comforting in the sense that it reassured her their home base was indeed warmer than outside. Sometimes she couldn't really tell if it was actually warmer inside or if it just felt less cold because there was no wind biting at her face.

Some of the plastic seemed to have cracked in the freezing process, the water having expanded too much for the bottle. She figured they should use those ones first so she started searching the kitchen for pots and pans to catch the water while it melted.

"At least we won't die of thirst." Walker sighed. "I mean, if we ever need water…couldn't we just scoop up a bunch of snow and melt that?"

Erika shrugged. "I guess. Although it'll take a lot more melted snow for it to amount to something worthwhile. And we'd have to boil it as well, to be certain we won't get sick from drinking unsafe water."

"If we find more perishable food," Anri started moving ingredients around on the counter. "Maybe we should keep supplies like that outside? The outdoor temperature is surely low enough to keep anything from spoiling."

"Certain things like that'll freeze though…Food like that would have to be thawed before consumption." Walker debated. "We need to keep warm in any way we can."

"What do you think, Celty?" Anri turned to the dullahan who appeared to be turned in the direction of the living room.

She scribbled something quickly in her notebook. [I'm going to check on the others.]

"Oh…alright." Anri shifted as Celty walked away and into the other room. The Raira student watched her for a brief moment in the kitchen doorway but soon her attention was diverted back to helping Walker and Erika.

Celty looked around the living room. Kyohei and Simon were fiddling with the kerosene heater and every so often Masaomi or Mikado would add in their two cents from their respective places on the sofa. She wasn't listening to their conversation but she observed them. They seemed to have perked up a bit, if only _just_ a bit. Even Masaomi smirked occasionally.

Shinra unexpectedly embraced Celty from behind and nuzzled his face into her neck. It made the dullahan jump slightly and just before she went to push him away or smack him, she stopped herself.

"Celty! It's getting dark both outside and in here. Maybe we should light more candles?" Shinra hummed.

[I didn't know you and Kyohei were done!] Shinra nuzzled into her neck farther. [They seemed to have cheered up!] Celty wrote and showed the notebook to Shinra who nodded slightly, his face still buried in her. For a moment she felt her body temperature elevate at Shinra's continued nuzzling. She looked around the room more and the mood was inadvertently killed. [But, where are Shizuo and Izaya?]

She felt Shinra tighten his hold on her. "Talking in the bedroom." He mumbled. "Izaya shut down again. Shizuo-kun asked if they could be alone. I don't know why and I didn't ask."

Celty seemed to be debating what to write next and her pencil hovered over the paper for a few minutes. [Shizuo said Izaya acts differently when they are alone.] Shinra tilted his head at her words. [Shinra, is it safe for Izaya to stay with us?]

Shinra was surprised by Celty's question.

[He was dangerous before and with him being even _more_…you know...] she searched her mind for the _polite _term she had heard previously. […unstablethan he was…He's dangerous. How should we handle this?]

Shinra grinned slightly and shook his head. "One step at a time. Besides, I think Shizuo-kun can handle him quite well."

* * *

"_Izaya…I need you to tell me what's going on." _Shizuo kneeled in front of his rival who appeared to be unresponsive once again. Izaya sat on the bed, his legs hanging over the edge. _"What did you mean '_help me'_? Help you with what?"_

Izaya looked up at the words 'help me.' They had been the only two words that Shizuo had said that Izaya understood.

"_Please tell me what's happening to you, Flea…Izaya."_ Shizuo stared into Izaya's eyes as if he was searching for something in the brown-red orbs staring back at him.

Izaya read Shizuo's features and tried desperately to decipher them. Sad. Shizuo looked sad, Izaya decided. He didn't know why, couldn't understand or remember what had lead Shizuo to look that way, especially towards him.

"_I want to _help. _But I don't know how._" Shizuo scrunched his eyes and hung his head, growling. _"I don't know why and it pisses me off. I just want us, all of us, to go back to the way things were." _Shizuo swallowed a lump in his throat. _"Everything's different now, none of us are the same. Some of us are even _dead_…_We won't go back. We can't."

Izaya glanced down at Shizuo's blond hair. It looked so soft. The raven touched the other male's hair. It was silkier than it looked. But Izaya also realized that Shizuo was shaking. He racked his brain for what shaking meant, searched for a word that made sense.

Shizuo, feeling the other's slender fingers run through his blond locks, looked up as he wiped tears from his cheeks while his face simultaneously heated up in frustration about his sudden lack of self-control. Izaya's eyes held recognition where before there was nothing noticeable.

"It's cold…?" Izaya spoke quietly in a hoarse and timid voice. At first, Shizuo wasn't sure if it was a question and thought he might be referring to himself being cold. But as he watched the raven's facial expressions and body language, Shizuo realized Izaya was actually showing mild concern for someone other than himself. And that person was his rival, Shizuo.

Shizuo moved to sit next to Izaya on the bed. He rubbed his eyes some more, trying harder to pretend he hadn't been crying in the slightest. Finally, he shook his head. "No, I'm not cold. Are you?"

Izaya look lazily away. "Alone then?" He asked and this time Shizuo understood it was a question from the get go. Shizuo motioned for Izaya to continue, not understanding what he was asking. "I'm alone? On my own?"

Shizuo's brows knit together and he mentally cursed himself for what he had previously said to the raven. His intent had just simply been to discourage Izaya from doing anything again that would be damaging, dangerous, or detrimental. He hadn't meant for Izaya to close up entirely again.

Shizuo shook his head. "No. You're not on your own."

Izaya turned his gaze to Shizuo once again. Shizuo saw what he had been searching for in Izaya's eyes…an emotion Shizuo couldn't quite name. He couldn't help the edges of his mouth from tilting upward. He put his palm on the raven's cheek, leaned in and put his lips to the other's forehead.

"You're not alone." Shizuo spoke softly, feeling Izaya tense and then relax. "…not anymore."

* * *

reedleonn - SEE YA NEXT CHAPTER! REVIEW IF YOU FEEL LIKE. I always enjoy hearing from you all~


	10. Chapter 10 - Fleeting Sanity

Our Armageddon  
Chapter 10

AuthorNote: Yo, shit starts getting real in this chapter. You've been...warned?

THANKS TO ALL MAH READERS ETC ETC ETC.

Have fun reading~

* * *

Izaya didn't move or flinch or resist Shizuo's touch. However, the touch made Izaya feel strange. His face felt like it was on fire, burning, and it was making him both anxious and relieved at the same time. Shizuo's closeness, his soft skin…how Shizuo seemed to be holding onto him and keeping Izaya in the world, made Izaya's already active mind race. But Izaya still made no move to return Shizuo's seemingly affectionate actions.

'_Maybe he's just pretending.'_

The thought was stuck in Izaya's mind, digging itself deeper into his psyche. He couldn't trust _Shizuo Heiwajima._ He couldn't and wouldn't allow himself to trust _anybody_. It wasn't possible. It wasn't possible for anyone to care about him…about Izaya Orihara.

'_Not possible…It's not…possible…'_

Izaya's head was swimming and he squeezed his eyes shut. Raising his arms to Shizuo's back, he started clawing at the fabric of the other male's sweater, his coat having been previously removed. He clung to Shizuo as tightly as he possibly could and knew his body was starting to tremble.

'_I don't want to be alone.'_

His breathing was becoming increasingly deep and erratic - his throat was tight. The dampness in his eyes was returning. It didn't make sense to him nor did he know what he was feeling in the slightest.

His hearing was becoming muffled and dull. His sense of touch was diminishing and his body felt weaker and weaker by the second. Izaya tried to hold onto Shizuo tighter but the blond, noticing the change in the raven-haired man, decided to release his strong hold on him. Izaya wasn't having any of it and he practically had to pry himself out of Izaya's grasp.

Izaya opened his eyes to look up at Shizuo's face. His mouth was moving but this time he couldn't even hear the disembodied words from his mouth. Shizuo seemed to be waiting for a response to something he had said. When he didn't receive one, his concerned expression deepened and he tried again and again…until Izaya started to hear what he was saying.

"Izaya…_It's okay_. You **are okay**." Shizuo's voice broke through another one of Izaya's barriers and the shorter male blinked disbelievingly then barely nodded to show he understood. His response seemed to please the former bartender who couldn't help but grin and sigh. Shizuo then pulled the sleeve of his sweater down over his hand and raised it to wipe hot tears from Izaya's cheeks. Izaya flinched, not having realized he had been crying. "You have to talk, you know. Shinra once told me you're the type to bottle everything up inside of yourself…that you are actually the most fragile person he's ever met…I didn't used to believe him…" He frowned.

'_Why is he doing this…I don't understand. I can't trust him. I can't…I can't…but I…I…I __**want**__ to…I __**think**__ I want to trust Shizu-chan.'_

Shizuo turned away and closed his eyes, thinking. "Tch…I thought I hated you. This is weird and I don't understand it myself but…"

'_You __**are**__ suppose to hate me. You always said you __**hated **__me. I don't understand, I don't understand.'_

Izaya stared at Shizuo, mouth agape. "It hurts," the blond stated. "It hurts to see you like this. 'Like you're hurting but won't say why."

'_Stop. I don't understand, Shizu-chan. Hate me! Loathe me! Punch me! Kill me! I don't understand! I don't know what this feeling is but it hurts so much! My chest __**hurts**__…Why?'_

Izaya felt his head swimming again and the room swaying back and forth. His eyelids felt heavy but his heart wouldn't stop beating so fast…he couldn't breathe. It felt like he was choking on his own tongue. Black spots were forming in his vision, he felt lightheaded. Shizuo put his hand on Izaya's arm and made the raven look at him, his concern growing deeper by the second. "Please tell me what's wrong."

Izaya felt his body weaken and start to fall before being caught by Shizuo. "Shizu…chan…"

"Izaya…please tell me what's wrong!"

Izaya's eyes shifted around the features on Shizuo's face. Shizuo's eyes held a warmth behind their honey-colored irises – a warmth Izaya had seen directed at other people but never towards himself.

Shizuo was quiet, seemingly waiting patiently for Izaya to say something. The moment was crushing Izaya and his mind was sneakily trying to escape and hide the situation from him. He was afraid…afraid what would happen if he didn't say anything.

"Shizu-chan...help. Help me…! I'm afraid I'm going to disappear. I'm going to vanish. It feels like I'm going to stop existing…Don't let me die…please…Shizu-chan…I don't want to die. I don't…want to die…" The words just rushed from his mouth and he wasn't able to stop what he was saying. The raven didn't know why he was telling his 'rival' this but he couldn't think straight, he felt terrible, and for once he didn't know what to do about a situation he got himself stuck in.

Shizuo looked to be taken aback. He seemed to be searching for words he didn't know. "…Oi…Flea – Izaya…You're not going to vanish. You're not going _anywhere_, at least not without m-" Shizuo swallowed the last word. "You're not going to die. Okay?" Shizuo offered an oddly warm, sad smile.

Izaya staring, eyes half-lidded, was struggling with trusting the blond. On one hand he wanted to trust him. On the other, he was scared to do so and it was making his thoughts twist and turn and writhe. Izaya's vision was blurring but he had to admit he was feeling calmer, if only slightly. "…I feel tired. Shizu-chan…"

"You look it…" Shizuo pushed more items off the bed to make room. He then carefully adjusted the very tired and weak Izaya into a more comfortable position on it. "Maybe you should rest here for awhile."

He went to cover Izaya with a blanket to help keep his - already frail - body warm. When he tried to turn away, he felt something tug on his sleeve and turned to see Izaya barely holding onto his sweater. Izaya seemed to be trying to say something but was unable to coherently form the words.

Shizuo easily got out of Izaya's grasp, gently placing his hand back on the bed. "I'll come right back," Shizuo said softly. "Just try to sleep."

Shizuo stepped out of the bedroom but left the door mostly open. Turning towards the living room, he noticed the others had hung a blanket in the doorway. Warm, yellow light seeped from the edges of the barrier. The closer Shizuo got, the warmer the air around him felt.

Pushing the curtain away so he could enter, but without tearing it down, Shizuo felt the incredible warmth in the room and saw the group he was becoming accustomed to living with. Most of them were in makeshift beds, sleeping soundly, while a couple appeared still awake.

"You guys got it working?" Shizuo's voice made Shinra and Kyohei jump as they turned.

Shinra nodded. "Yeah! We found some kerosene."

"Someone in an apartment adjacent to here had stashed some." Kyohei took a sip from a steaming teacup.

"'Nice of them to lend us some…" Shizuo tilted his head.

"They won't be needing it." Kyohei grumbled under his breath. "They're dead."

Shizuo didn't press the matter. He had to keep reminding himself that this was survival – life or death. As he argued with himself inside his head, Shinra poured a cup of tea from the kettle sitting on top of the heater then shoved it in Shizuo hands. He stared down at the green liquid.

"What is it?" Shinra asked, his glance looking towards the doorway every so often.

Shizuo, noticing his wandering eyes, shook his head, fully aware that his face was already tinted pink again. "It's nothing."

Shinra and Kyohei exchanged glances while Shizuo wasn't looking. He was blowing on his tea in an attempt to cool it down slightly so he wouldn't burn his mouth, feeling eager to have something warm in his stomach. Kyohei raised his head; something had registered with his hearing and peaked his interest. He looked toward the doorway, his sight obscured by the blanket, which was acting as a divider to keep less heat from escaping to lesser-used parts of the apartment.

Shinra's eyes followed his gaze. "Footsteps?" They listened, now getting Shizuo's attention as well. "Is that Izaya-kun?"

Shizuo stood with a sigh. "I thought he was asleep…" the blond placed his cup down and walked towards the soft and timid footfalls.

Kyohei stood, giving Shinra a curious look. Shizuo disappeared into the hallway and the two who remained heard a frightened or surprised, yet quiet, yelp and then Shizuo's voice sounding surprisingly calming. The other voice, obviously belonging to Izaya, was more difficult to hear and much more incoherent.

Shinra's brows furrowed as he turned to Kyohei. "Can you make out what they're saying?"

"Not much…" Kyohei ground his teeth, as if it would help him hear. "Izaya's saying something about…Shizuo not coming back?"

"Eh?" Shinra was more confused than before.

"He just said, 'you said you'd be right back' and something that sounded like…'but you didn't?'" Kyohei sighed and scratched the back of his head. "I'm terrible at eavesdropping."

After a few long moments, Shizuo appeared back in the room, supporting a very sleeping-eyed Izaya, who seemed to barely be able to hold himself up at all. Shinra stood to help Shizuo, and the two of them managed to get Izaya comfortable just before he completely drifted off to sleep.

Shizuo sat next to Izaya, momentarily watching his sleeping form. He put his teacup to his mouth to take a sip, relishing the warmth. Shinra bit his bottom lip, anxiously wanting to talk to Shizuo but not knowing if he should or not at the moment. "He seems exhausted." Shizuo mumbled, the other two not knowing if the statement was directed at them or if he was talking more to himself.

"Izaya-kun needs time to recover." Shinra spoke. "He was pretty far gone and I honestly wasn't certain he'd make it, especially since supplies are limited. It's kind of a miracle he's alive…He'll probably be like this for a bit. You know, feeling weak and tired and the like."

Kyohei nodded. "We're all exhausted. You included, Shizuo."

"It's a miracle _any_ of us are alive, I guess…" Shizuo frowned. "I don't understand what's going on with him."

"What about you? Do you understand what's going on with you?" Kyohei said and Shizuo looked up at him.

"What do you mean?" the blond drank more from his cup.

"Something is going on with everyone here. The change in each of us may not be as noticeable as the change in Izaya but face it, we are all struggling to figure out what is happening inside our own heads." Kyohei looked solemnly into his half-empty teacup. Shizuo and Shinra contemplated what Kyohei had just voiced.

Shizuo sighed. "Yeah. I know that. I just can't think about it now." Shizuo turned towards Izaya who was whimpering in his sleep. "I don't have the time to figure it out. **He** needs my help right now…and I still need to find Kasuka…"

"Why don't you go out and search at dawn?" Shinra suggested. "I'll make sure he's not dead by the time you get back." Shinra's last statement made Shizuo flinch with the way the doctor had worded his sentence.

Shizuo also didn't like the sly grin the underground doctor was giving him. He felt only slightly compelled to argue or deny his feelings but, in the end, decided not to fight about it with Shinra. "Yeah. I'll take you up on that offer."

Shinra nodded, his usual perky attitude shining through even now. "Let's all get some rest then."

* * *

Shinra woke to the sound of the front door shutting. He opened his eyes and looked towards where Shizuo had made his bed near Izaya, who was still fast asleep and tossing or turning every so often, from whatever dream, or nightmare, he was caught in. Shizuo's bed was empty, the covers haphazardly tossed near-by.

Yawning, Shinra sat up and put on his glasses. Kyohei appeared to be lying wide-awake in his own bed. "Did you sleep?" he whispered to the other.

Kyohei sat up as well. "Little bit."

Erika moaned from somewhere in the room. "Ugh…I slept forever and my back still hurts." She slowly stood and tried to stretch feeling every aching muscle in her body. "I feel like an old lady."

"You're getting close to that." Walker mumbled with his face still embedded in his pillow. Erika lightly kicked him and received a groan in thanks.

The dark-haired girl looked around the room. "Where's Celty?"

Shinra felt his heartbeat speed up. "S-she said something about checking on Shooter last night. Maybe she's just checking in on him now…" Shinra frowned. "Maybe I should check on her." He could feel panic building inside him and forcing its way up his throat like bile. Millions of thoughts raced through his brain at once, most of the worries and imagined scenarios were irrational, but they were sending him quickly into madness nonetheless.

He glanced again at Izaya and thought about what he had told Shizuo just last night.

"No worries. Me and Anri-chan will go." Erika started towards the heater and turned it incredibly low, Kyohei raising an eyebrow at her. "We should be careful about how much of this kerosene we use. It's not like we have an infinite supply."

Anri twitched at the sound of her name; she rubbed her eyes, pretending she was just waking up. She hadn't thought anyone knew she was awake, thinking her act was pretty good. "Why me?"

Erika walked over to Anri and grabbed her good wrist, whisking her away and in the approximate direction where she thought they might find Celty. "Why? Because we need to be with other women right now, I've been around too much testosterone lately." As the two of them made their way out, Erika also added a mumbled, "they're starting to drive me crazy" just before closing the door behind them.

Both Mikado and Masaomi were jolted awake by the two girls' sudden leave. Simon walked over to the youngest two males from the kitchen area, looking towards where Erika and Anri had just been moments before. He was munching on something he had found deep in their stock of food.

"Too much testosterone?" Simon gave a sly glace to the two remaining Raira students. "Hmm…"

Mikado blushed furiously and turned his head away. Masaomi, on the other hand, simply rolled his eyes at the Russian. Simon sat down between the two boys and handed them each a granola bar. "'Need to eat and stay healthy. Anri is very lucky to have you both. So you should both keep healthy for Anri and protect her."

Mikado's blush spread to his ears and he tried to calm himself by stuffing as much of the granola bar into his mouth as he could at one time. Masaomi didn't even make a move to unwrap it. He stared into space with a grim and rageful expression. Every emotion he had been trying to suppress was bubbling up at that moment, the word _'protect'_ ringing in his ears.

Simon continued to talk, mostly teasing Mikado and laughing as his blush kept expanding beyond what he thought was possible for the boy. He kept talking and talking and talking and laughing and it was making Masaomi lose his delicately balanced control.

"Would you shut up?!" Masaomi screeched, glaring right at Simon who was flabbergasted by the younger's outburst. "We can't protect anyone! Not Anri, not you, not Saburo, and definitely not Sa…" Masaomi's voice fell and he turned away. He didn't really _understand_ what he was feeling or even _know_ what he was feeling. Shame? Grief? Hopelessness? Helplessness? Jealousy? Guilt? What did it matter what it was? It was painful. He'd never felt that much pain before so intensely.

Simon's face fell but was then replaced with a more caring and understanding expression. He put one of his overgrown hands on Kida's shoulder. "It wasn't your fault."

Masaomi turned his rage towards Izaya. "I know it wasn't **my fault**! It was **his **fault!"

Simon shook his head. "It not Izay-a's fault either what happened to Saki-chan." He forced the blond to look him in the eyes. "It is no one's fault. It just happened."

The Russian waited for the young man to acknowledge that he understood the meaning behind his words. At first, it seemed Simon had gotten through to Masaomi as his face appeared calmer than it had in a long time. But after a few more moments, he ferociously shook his head, stood wobbly on his still somewhat painful leg and rushed towards the still sleeping raven before anyone could stop him.

While trying to get close enough to Izaya, Masaomi tripped and hissed as the pain in his leg flared up but it didn't deter him from grabbing Izaya and pinning him to the floor. Izaya trembled awake and his eyes stared widely into Kida's, which were furious and bloodshot – red and puffy.

Neither male said anything and it seemed to infuriate Masaomi to an even greater degree. Taking Izaya's neck in his hands, he shook the raven, the other male's head smacking against the floor a few times. "I hate you so much. I fucking HATE YOU!" As Masaomi raised a fist with the full intention of ramming it into Izaya's face, Simon grabbed Kida from behind and yanked him off, careful to untangle his fingers from around Izaya's throat before pulling.

As Simon tried to reason with Masaomi, who couldn't hear a word the Russian man was saying, the young Raira student spat at the older boy, who was still coughing and trying to catch his breath. Izaya held the place on his throat that Masaomi had been gripping as he looked over at him, Izaya's own eyes holding a similar, yet uncontrolled, bloodlust.

"Kida-kun! Stop!" Mikado screamed, trying to get through to his friend. Simon was struggling to keep hold of the boy who was persistent in trying to wiggle out of his grip. "Get a hold of yourself!"

Masaomi glared at Izaya again and then calmed down enough that Simon felt comfortable releasing him. He still didn't take his eyes off the other male. Izaya on the other hand had looked away already still very shaken up from his rude awakening. Kida shook his head, disgusted with the parasite in front of him. "Why don't you do us all a favor," Kida's voice was laced with venom. "Do us all a favor and kill yourself."

"Masaomi!" Mikado scolded as he went after Kida, who was quickly limping towards the outside.

They all jolted at the sound of the door slamming shut. After their departure, the room felt eerily quiet. For some time, no one made a move or said anything. Very few noises reached their ears; the most predominant one was Izaya's raspy breathing.

Shinra fidgeted worriedly. He really wanted to make sure Izaya wasn't injured but he couldn't tell if his friend wanted any attention at all in this moment. He also didn't know how the unstable man would react if he made the wrong choice. Izaya, who had his head down with his dark bangs covering his eyes, was still trembling. And Shinra knew he'd have to make a decision sooner or later.

"Izaya…" Shinra made sure to keep his voice down. "Did he hurt you?" The doctor attempted to get Izaya's attention, trying to cock his head to find the other's hidden eyes. "Izaya?"

Shinra frowned and slowly reached to put a calming hand on the other's trembling shoulder. But the moment his hand touched Izaya's form, the raven lashed out and pushed Shinra away, nearly making him fall backwards. Izaya stared at Shinra for a moment, his face holding too many emotions for Shinra to read clearly.

"Iza-" Before Shinra could even finish saying his name, Izaya jumped up and fled the room. "Hey wait! Izaya!"

The only response he got was his bedroom door shutting. Walker, who had been trying to avoid the whole conflict, helped Shinra to his feet. "Damn…I almost feel bad for him…" Walker tilted his head. "…almost."

Kyohei sent a quick glare Walker's way, and then motioned for Shinra to follow him.

* * *

AuthorNote: EVEN MORE shit goes down next chapter! Weeee~ Review?


	11. Chapter 11 - Nightmare's Lullaby

Our Armageddon  
Chapter 11

AuthorNote: Yo. I've been having some 'writer blockage.' Here's chapter 11. I'm workin' on Chapter 12 as we speak. Dude, this shit's getting intense. I'm also kinda weird about writing. Because - and I might have already said this in a previous A/N but - I tend to write and then reread EVERYTHING from the beginning. For consistency reasons.

I'M ALSO TIRED AS FUCK. I DON'T THINK I SLEEP. I SIMPLY GO UNCONSCIOUS AND THEN WAKE UP AND THEN CONTINUE TO BE TIRED FOR THE REMAINDER OF ETERNITY.

But I digress.

THANKS READERS AND PEEPS.

ALSO **WARNING: THIS CHAPTER HAS THEMES OF SUICIDAL BEHAVIOR/ATTEMPT. So...I dunno. Just warning you, I guess? Read at your own discretion? **

I dunno. Have fun, I guess?

* * *

Celty tossed another piece of fallen cement aside before she stood back to look more clearly at what she was trying to accomplish. She stared at the pile of rubble, which was in place of where Shooter used to be. She'd been digging for a while, trying to clear away the debris. But now that she had reduced the substantial heap to a mere fraction of what it had been, Celty started to doubt she'd find anything at all underneath the remaining bits of what was once a ceiling.

"Celty! Good! You are here after all!" Erika chirped and jogged the remaining distance to the dullahan. When Celty tilted her head at Erika and then turned her gaze to Anri once she caught up, Erika continued, "We were feeling a bit...stir crazy."

The dullahan gave a nod to the other two.

Anri looked past Celty to the rubble heap. "Celty-san…is Shooter…um…Is he under that?" She asked carefully while pointing to the spot Celty had been working on uncovering.

Celty didn't motion to write anything in her notebook. She only looked curiously to the place where she had last seen her motorcycle. Anri watched Celty's body language carefully, how she fidgeted with the zipper on her suit or how she would shift her weight from hip to hip, and then walked over to the remaining debris. Celty tilted her head at the young woman.

Anri, with her uninjured arm, began to push away more of the rubble. The girl had noticed the haphazard, artificially built piles of rock and broken metal pipes near the edges of the room. She understood almost instantly what Celty had been doing alone.

Erika skipped over to help. She was a bit faster in picking and tossing, due to both her arms still being in functional condition. The strange woman also started to hum an unrecognizable song that echoed, seemingly throughout the entire building.

* * *

Shizuo wasn't having any more luck in finding Kasuka than he had on previous occasions. He had long since lost track of time but, if he had to guess, he would assume it was now around noon. He'd been out searching since dawn. It'd been hours and he was starting to lose more than just the time of day.

He could feel his mind slipping into dark places. Shizuo watched his breath float away in the cold before vanishing soon after.

'_Vanishing.'_

"Kasuka…where are you?" Shizuo heard his own broken, quiet voice.

'_I'm afraid I'm going to disappear. I'm going to vanish.'_

He shook his head to rid his mind of his thoughts of Izaya right now. He needed to focus on his brother right now. He couldn't worry about Izaya right now. He couldn't…

'_It feels like I'm going to stop existing…'_

Shizuo felt his heart clench painfully. He started fidgeting and then ruffled his hair as if that would stop certain thoughts or memories from coming. When that didn't work, not like he was expecting it to, Shizuo flipped open his cell phone. The battery icon was flashing red…and empty. So, he hurriedly searched for a particular text message he had received a while ago.

"[_Onii-san, it's Kasuka. I'm borrowing someone's mobile right now to tell you I'm alright. My phone is broken. Don't worry about me._]"

Shizuo read it aloud several times. Trying to engrain the look and feel of the words into his head as if saying the words Kasuka had written would guarantee that his brother was still alive.

Halfway through reading the text a last time, his phone finally ran out of charge and went through the process of shutting itself down. When it was off entirely, Shizuo was left staring at the dark, black…empty screen.

A moment more of looking at his now useless phone and he snapped it shut. He could feel the shadows creeping back into his mind and no matter how hard he tried to keep them at bay; Shizuo was unable to chase them out.

Needing a moment of solitude, Shizuo felt himself unconsciously sitting on the cold, cracked pavement, staring but only seeing the scenes that repeated to play in his head.

'_Shizu-chan...help. Help me…!'_

'_Don't let me die…please…Shizu-chan…I don't want to die.' _

'_I don't…want to die…'_

* * *

"Izaya! Open the door!" Shinra's voice was getting louder and more frantic and Izaya could feel, with his back pressed against the door, that he was pounding harder as well. "Open the door!" He pounded on the door some more, which was also locked and not just shut by the weight of the raven, and it was accompanied by a few muttered curses. "I'm worried about you…Let me in. Please!"

The raven-haired man heard Shinra sigh and then say something quietly to either Kyohei or Walker, who he assumed were both still there with Shinra. He didn't know where Simon was and was sure he had heard the Russian leave not too long after Kida and Mikado had left. Izaya tried to listen more carefully by pressing his ear to the door. It sounded like they were discussing something about him…or maybe Shizuo?

They were hard to understand but Izaya continued to try and listen to their conversation.

"I'll go…" Walker said. "Except I have no idea where he could be…"

Kyohei grumbled. "Let's not be stupid about this. I'll go look for him with Walker. We probably shouldn't have let Shizuo go out to look for his brother alone anyway."

Izaya's breath hitched at Kyohei's last sentence.

"We're wasting time! Just go find him!" Shinra's voice was breaking almost as if he was close to tears, "Go find Shizuo…Now!"

Receding footsteps signaled to Izaya that Walker and Kyohei had left and in a hurry. Shinra was trying to talk to him again, pleading and begging for him to open the door and let the doctor…his friend in.

His cries were falling on deaf ears though and Izaya started feeling worse and worse. His chest was getting tight again. It hurt…it really did hurt. It hurt so much and he didn't know why or what to do about it.

"_Why don't you do us all a favor…" _

Izaya's head tilted up and he looked around the room. He could hear humming from somewhere else in the building but he also heard Kida's words repeating around him, taunting him.

"_Do us all a favor and kill yourself." _

His eyes were darting around and he was searching for something, unsure exactly what _it_ was.

"_All a favor…"_

He saw something shiny…something metallic…sticking out from one of the supply boxes. He stood up and gradually made his way towards the shiny object, almost as if he was hypnotized by it.

"_Kill yourself."_

His fingers caressed the metallic, sharp object that he now could identify as a pair of scissors.

"…_us a favor."_

They were in his hand now. So shiny…so sharp and beautiful.

"_Do us a favor."_

"I'll do you all a favor…" Izaya spoke.

"Izaya?" Shinra's voice called from the other side of the door. "Open the door!"

"I'll do you all a favor."

"_Do us all a favor."_

"What are you doing? Tell me you're okay!" Shinra was banging on the door again. "Izaya!"

"I'm doing you a favor."

"OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!"

"_Kill yourself."_

"Myself."

"_Kill…"_

"I'll kill…" Izaya played with the scissors, smoothing the exposed blades against his skin. At first it was just at his fingertips, which continued to caress the blades and that were eventually sliced open.

"IZAYA!"

"_Kill…"_

"Kill."

"IZAYA! OPEN THE DOOR!" Shinra kept banging on the door and the humming of a song continued to grow louder in Izaya's ears.

"_Kill yourself."_

"Kill myself…_for all of you_." He lifted up the scissors so the sharp edge of one of the two blades was calling to his skin.

"Izaya…Please!"

* * *

Kyohei and Walker had put on their coats as fast as humanly possible and rushed out of the apartment. They passed Mikado consoling Masaomi as they ran from the building. Both were certain one of the two Raira students had tried to ask them a question but neither man paid any mind to what was asked or who had asked it.

They were running and calling out Shizuo's name hoping either they'd see him or that he'd be able to hear them yelling for him.

Both, on several occasions, had tripped and fallen over themselves. They each received at least a few bruises, scrapes and or cuts, which went unnoticed by either of them because no physical pain could reach their consciousness at the moment.

Their lungs were burning from running in the cold air. Their legs screamed at them. They were dizzy and tired and…scared. They were scared they wouldn't find Shizuo in time or that they'd return with him too late.

Shinra had been close to crying. Neither of them had ever seen him in that state. Walker's anxiety grew out of not knowing or completely understanding, a reaction to Shinra's reaction to the situation with Izaya. Kyohei's fear grew out of knowing too much. He remembered his discussion with Shinra, right after the 'switchblade incident' when Izaya had cut his hand open. Whether it had been on purpose or by accident, he suspected the injury had been an accident, Kyohei understood that Shinra was correct. Izaya was unpredictable. What was worse was that Izaya was also unstable…and at times – inconsolable.

The doctor hadn't actually _said _what he was thinking, why he was so worried, why his panic kept rising, or why he kept pleading with Izaya from the other side of the locked door.

But Kyohei could guess why.

"Kyohei!" Walker called from a short distance away. "I see him! He's over here!"

Kyohei's eyes focused on the blond seated on the cold pavement. "Shizuo!" Kyohei yelled his name just as Shizuo turned his head to look at them. "Shizuo…hurry!" The two van gang members reached the former bartender.

Shizuo's eyebrows creased. "…Why? What's going on?"

Kyohei panted as Walker took over relaying the message, "It's Izaya! He-"

"Izaya…?" Shizuo's heart dropped. He didn't even stay to hear what else the two other men had to say. He jolted to his feet and sprinted off towards home base.

* * *

Celty, Erika, and Anri were staring at the now cleared spot on the floor. All the rubble had been removed and there was no sign whatsoever of Shooter. Not a wrecked mess, or a part, or even a clue as to what had happened. There was nothing. Shooter was gone without a trace.

The dullahan lowered her head and put a hand to her helmet, near where her forehead would be if she had had one.

Neither of the other girls said anything. Erika and Anri were trying to read the dullahan yet seemed to be unsuccessful and therefore at a loss for words to comfort Celty.

Eventually without warning, Celty turned and started walking back towards the apartment. She still did not reach for her notebook or pencil.

"Celty-san…" Anri spoke. Celty turned slightly to see the young woman. "I'm sorry…" Celty turned around completely as to face Anri, "I'm so sorry…You are always so kind and helpful…and I…" Anri unconsciously motioned to her broken arm by touching it with her left hand.

Erika rushed over and put her hands on her shoulders and tried to comfort the younger woman with a small, forced smile. "Heh…Anri-chan…we tried our best…!" Erika looked at Celty with a hopeful, pleading expression.

Anri's downcast eyes were watering and tears slowly began to slide down her cheeks. She clenched her jaw as if trying to keep back sobs or to prevent the tears from growing in number. Celty approached her and put her black-gloved hand on Anri's head, stroking her hair. She couldn't hold back anymore at that point. Her crying amplified and her tears flowed freely down her face, blurring her vision.

Choked sobs and shaky breaths were muffled when Celty pulled her into an embrace.

* * *

Shizuo busted through the front door and went to find Shinra who was still screaming and pleading with someone in the seemingly locked room. "Shinra…!" Shizuo knelt down on the floor next to the shocked doctor who was by this time incapable of rational thought.

"Shizuo…help him!" Shinra switched to pleading with Shizuo instead, "Please, Shizuo. He's my friend…and I can't…I can't…"

"Shinra!" the blond shook the young doctor, trying to get him out of his own panic-induced trance. "Where's Izaya?! What's happening? Walker and Kyohei-"

"He's in there…He locked himself in there…I can't-"

Shizuo didn't wait any longer for Shinra to calm down or tell him what was happening. He carefully moved him away from the door and Shizuo took a few steps back and then kicked down the barrier.

He rushed in but continued onward with caution. The air was frigid but not just because of the temperature or lack of sufficient heating. Shizuo swallowed the lump in his throat and looked around until his eyes settled on a crouched, huddled figure that was facing away from him at the far end of the room. He took a few steps forward.

"Izaya?" Shizuo almost didn't recognize his own voice.

"For all of you…" the raven was talking to himself, "I'll do it for all of you…"

Shizuo treaded lightly as he got closer to the other man, who he now could not deny his growing feelings for. He could see Izaya clutching something, which was reflecting what little light was in the room, and holding it in an odd way against his left wrist.

"I'll do it for all of you," He said again but with a bit more resolve in his voice this time. "I'll kill myself for all of you."

Before anything else could happen, Shizuo was embracing Izaya from behind and at the same time holding onto the hand Izaya had gripped around the scissors. "That's enough…" Shizuo was gently retrieving the object of Izaya's fascination out of the smaller man's trembling hand. When it was completely out of the raven's grasp, he handed it to Shinra who had entered the room a few moments prior. Shinra held onto it, securely hidden in his jacket pocket, out of sight. He still didn't leave the room though, for which Shizuo was glad. He was also glad that Shinra had regained the majority of his senses in such a short amount of time.

"Shizu…Sh-Shi…Shizu-chan. Don't hate me…" Izaya whimpered. "You don't _really_ hate me…do you?" The last half of the question sounded more emotionless than anything else.

Shizuo tensed at the unexpected question, "No, I don't hate you, Izaya." He observed the blood on Izaya's hands and left forearm, smeared from open wounds – the one on his wrist had been started with the intention of forming a vertical downward path, towards his upper arm, but remained significantly incomplete. From the looks of it, Izaya really had been too close to going though with…it - with killing himself… Shizuo was both embracing the other man and consciously preventing anything else from happening by keeping his grip firm on Izaya's wrists.

Shinra excused himself from the room, mentioning briefly about getting something after putting the scissors away and then coming right back.

Shizuo's warm breath crawled around Izaya's collarbone. He was resting his chin on the other's shoulder and as the blond shifted his position he noticed the bruises on Izaya's neck. Deep purple, almost reddish, blemishes were painted there and formed the general shapes of someone's palms and spindly fingers.

His eyes widened only for a second but his frown remained plastered on his face for much longer.

"Shizu-chan…I'm sorry about your brother. It's my fault." Izaya's voice still seemed to hold very little emotion in it. Shizuo noticeably tensed. "I didn't know. You hadn't told me."

Shizuo's confusion expanded but he decided not to indulge in his curiosity. "…It's not your fault." He whispered. "Besides," he tried to smile but was failing miserably. "I still haven't found him so it's okay. He's okay."

Izaya didn't say anything else and Shinra soon entered the room with a small med kit and kneeled beside the other two. Shizuo was still gripping onto Izaya's arms for which Shinra thanked him, as it was easier to treat the raven's wounds when he was being held still. Shizuo was certain there was _at least_ one other hidden meaning behind his expression of gratitude but he didn't specify more and Shizuo didn't feel the need to ask.

Once Izaya's cuts were all cleaned and wrapped up with bandages, Shinra held out a couple pills and a cup of green tea. Shizuo had been hesitant to let go of Izaya's wrists but did so nonetheless realizing they couldn't stay like this forever. Izaya looked questioningly at the pills and seemed to be trying to ask a question but was having great difficulty.

"They're just antibiotics, Izaya," Shinra tiredly smiled. "To lower the risk of your c..." Shinra stumbled over his words for a moment before trying again while rewording his statement. "To lower the risk of your injuries becoming infected."

Shinra placed the pills in Izaya's palm and the raven motioned to put them in his mouth but stopped short and looked up at Shinra. "Tha…" Izaya started but discontinued what he was going to say. Then after a moment he popped the pills in his mouth and swallowed them with some of the tea he was handed.

The three sat quietly in the room for a while longer. After a few minutes Izaya started rubbing his eyes and yawning every-so-often. He started getting wobbly and drowsy and Shizuo caught him and held him when he started falling over. Shizuo looked up at Shinra who was biting his lip yet remaining relatively unconcerned then he looked back at Izaya.

"Those weren't antibiotics, were they?" Shizuo asked for confirmation.

"One of the pills was. The other, you're right. It was not," Shinra's forehead creased.

"Well…what was it?" Shizuo asked moderately concerned.

Shinra looked up, slightly surprised. "Eh? Oh…it was just…something to…reduce anxiety. It also doubles as a sleep aid." He sighed and rubbed his eyes under his glasses.

Izaya groaned and nuzzled deeper into Shizuo's embrace. Upon that, and in addition to seeing Izaya's sleeping face, Shizuo's face started burning red-hot again. And it didn't go unnoticed this time either by Shinra who smiled.

"Please take care of him…in the ways I can't." Shinra requested and then stood.

"Shinra…" Shizuo spoke the doctor's name even though he was already out of the room. He felt another flutter in his chest when Izaya squirmed in his arms, making Shizuo hold him tighter.

* * *

AuthorNote: Review if ya want. I'm working on chapter 12 like I said. Jeezuz, I even have an entire document devoted to NOTES for this story so I can remember things and stuff.


	12. Chapter 12 - Dead and Back Again

Our Armageddon  
Chapter 12

AuthorNote: WELP. I disappeared for awhile. I'm back...and trying to be better at being consistent in regards to updating. GAAAAAAAAAAH HOW DO I LOOSE TRACK OF TIME TO THE POINT OF ESSENTiALLY LOOSING WEEKS (or months in this case). WHAT WAS I EVEN DOING. A BUNCH BUT THATS NOT THE POINT.

Alright, awkward rant (that-had-been-an-attempt-to-cool-your-rage-at-me) over! YAY.

Thanks peeps.

Onward with Chapter 12. (We still got a ways to go.)

ENJOY DAMNIT

* * *

The city was on fire. Where skyscrapers once stood, there were now only crackling flames, taller than any demolished building, taller than the mountains in rural Japan. They reached into the sky, eating it whole, devouring the color, corrupting the world by raining ash.

Izaya stood in the middle of it all but, even as the flames of a broken place surrounded him, it wasn't even warm. He was freezing. So cold…so, so cold. He could hear the sirens, the screaming, the crashes as debris hit the ground, the explosions, and the distant ricochet of gunshots.

But he wasn't scared. Izaya felt the comfort of emotional numbness. He wasn't afraid, couldn't feel a thing, because he had nothing to lose here. None of his precious humans were here. No one was here. It was just Izaya. Alone. As usual. The way it was meant to be. The way he wanted it to be…alone.

"You're lying." A voice from behind Izaya spoke, which made his head tip up. The voice was familiar but the name of whom it belonged to was inconveniently buried in the recesses of his brain. "You're lying."

"I'm not lying." Izaya said but made no move to turn to look at whomever he was talking to.

"It's a lie." The man's voice spoke again. "Such a lie. You're such a liar."

"I'm not afraid." Izaya continued to deny. He held out his hand and a glowing ember landed in the center of his palm. "And it doesn't hurt."

"Turn around." The voice commanded. "If that's all true, then turn around and tell that to my face."

Izaya took another look at the fire that by now was nearly done eating away what little had survived to this point. He sighed then slowly and nonchalantly turned to face the man behind him. Upon realizing who it was, Izaya stiffened while taking a step back. "Shizu-chan?"

"I hate you." He said and then smiled. "I've always hated you. How could you forget that?"

"But…you-" Izaya noticed Shizuo was wearing his bartender uniform but couldn't put his finger on why this felt wrong.

"I lied." Shizuo started walking towards the raven-haired man, who in turn tried to take more steps backward. "Such a liar. Such a liar." Something started dripping from the corners of Shizuo's eyes and poured down his face. "Izaya-kun? Hey, why are you so afraid?" The former bartender's smile widened unnaturally as it looked like an invisible force was slicing at the corners of his mouth. Blood from his mouth mixed with red tears. His eyes were filled with insanity. "What's wrong? Why are you trembling? Are you cold?"

The back of Izaya's foot hit something hard. He tripped and tumbled into a pile of bricks. He tried to stand up but he couldn't move his legs. Shizuo reached the raven and crouched down to his level.

"Is it a nightmare?" Shizuo's hand extended towards Izaya and his fingertips brushed against the raven's neck. "…wake up. I'll help you. Don't worry, Izaya."

…Eyes filled with insanity. Those eyes didn't belong to _his _Shizu-chan.

Izaya stared wide-eyed as Shizuo's neck started bleeding from a horizontal slash. Blood dripping to the ground, he was still grinning. Izaya tried to scream but couldn't open his mouth as if it were sewn shut. It felt like it was sewn shut. Threads tangled and crisscrossed, sharp pain shooting around his mouth as if he had swallowed a few stray embers and wasn't able to spit them out.

"Isn't this what you wanted?" Shizuo motioned to his slashed throat. "Don't you hate me? Wanted me dead, Flea-kun?"

He scrunched his eyelids together hoping _this_ Shizuo would go away. But he continued to feel the other's eyes stalking him and his hot breath exhaling and burning any exposed skin that it touched. "I was scared. I was so scared." The voice was different and Izaya cautiously peaked through mostly lidded eyes. "I was so scared. You should have been there. You should have been there, Izaya."

Saburo…Saburo was now in front of Izaya…or a look alike. The man didn't really look like Saburo somehow. He had the same physical appearance but somehow it didn't feel like the man he knew as Saburo.

He looked around blankly, almost as if Izaya was not sitting right in front of him. Izaya would have thought that Saburo might not have even known he was there, had Saburo not used his name.

Saburo looked like a lifeless doll, a thing someone strung up and was dangling around in front of the informant in viciousness. "You would have enjoyed it. I'm sure you would have." Saburo was covered in something red. Sticky. His own blood. "It hurt a lot. You would have enjoyed watching, I'm sure."

Izaya blinked and he was gone, replaced by a young woman…Saki. She stood farther away and had her back turned to him. She seemed to be covering her eyes, shoulders shaking, as if she was crying. "It's all your fault." She mumbled over and over again but Izaya could only hear her voice, and her weeping, when he was standing right behind her. He tried to reach out to her, touch her shoulder, see that she was real. "It's all your fault. I hate you. It's all your fault." Without any warning, Saki turned around slashing at Izaya with a pocketknife.

He was able to dodge at first, but only barely. The longer the slashing continued, the more it seemed Izaya's muscles were freezing up. He continued to back away until his back hit a brick wall. He felt suddenly claustrophobic, trapped in a tight and daunting space. He slid to the concrete ground and watched Saki approach him, eventually sitting in front of Izaya.

Saki was looking directly into Izaya's eyes but with nothing but sockets – her own seemingly had been gouged out. Then, pointing the pocketknife at him, Izaya noticed the metal instrument looked just like one he had owned. She let the tip of the blade sink in a bit at his chest – a bit off-center, to his left. The two looked each other, unwavering, dead and cold.

Saki left out a choked sigh. "You won't be needing this anymore. Not that you've ever used it."

* * *

Izaya's eyes opened quickly but no emotion made its way to the surface. The fear was stuck somewhere deep inside him, too far and too buried to emerge in the slightest. It was that nightmare again. The nightmare that always seemed to evolve more and more each night in his sleep. It wasn't evolving in a good way either. It continued to get exponentially worse.

The nightmare made sense and yet at the same time it made no sense at all. The parts that he understood while sleeping were not the same parts that made sense in his waking life. And as a whole, the entire nightmare was completely irrational, as dreams often are, at least that was Izaya's belief on the matter. But it still bothered him and crawled under his skin when he was awake.

He shifted and rolled onto his back, noticing Shizuo's bed had been put away. Looking around the living room, he realized no one was in view and to this he noticeably tensed. He tried to calm himself but he didn't have the same control over his emotions as he once did. In fact, he now had very _poor_ control over himself in general. That also made him tense, what a vicious cycle.

He could feel his heart rate increasing and his throat closing up in the short amount of time he'd been awake. Izaya put his hand to his chest trying to calm the loud, fast thumping in his ribcage.

He perked up when he heard muffled voices coming from the kitchen. Pushing the covers away from his body, only sparing his bandaged wrist a small pained glance, Izaya reached for his shoes but stopped short. His eyes landed on a pair of black snow boots where his old, not-at-all-waterproof shoes had been. A tiny smile crossed his face briefly as he touched the faux fur used as trim along the top and inside the boots as lining. He slipped them on, surprise at how comfortable and warm they felt.

"…tried to wake him up?" Kadota's voice was still somewhat scrambled to Izaya, as he tried to quickly bring himself into reality.

"Yeah. I tried." Shizuo spoke. "He was shivering and thrashing…And it sort of seemed like he woke up for a split second but then he was right back to sleep again."

Neglecting to put on his wool coat, the kerosene heater must have been turned off recently, Izaya made his way to the kitchen, pulling the wide neck of his red sweater back onto his shoulder as he walked.

Shizuo's voice got louder the closer he got to the kitchen. "At least he seemed to calm down after that but he still seemed…I don't know. In pain or something…"

For a moment, the raven-haired said nothing from the doorframe to the two in the room. Kyohei was the first to notice him and turned from Shizuo right in the middle of his own sentence.

"Hey…good morning." Kyohei offered a smile although it looked almost forced. His brows were furrowed in concern, his eyes seemingly holding all the distress he wouldn't say. "How are you feeling?"

"…" Izaya hesitated. The only one he had truly spoken to since he'd arrived was Shizuo. It confused him to no end, as he was sure it confused the other just as well. It was an odd feeling, like he was…afraid of everyone but not of Shizuo. He had tried at times to say something, _anything, _to one of the other group members, but each time he felt his mind drift away as soon as his mouth opened. He forgot everything at those moments, at times barely able to remember his own name.

It was more than that though. It wasn't quite fear vs. comfort. He was afraid of something specific…something…something like being…_abandoned_. But Shizuo was a 'monster.' Shizuo couldn't leave him, couldn't leave Izaya, alone. Because monsters _can't die_. "Dotach-" Izaya bit his lip and turned his face toward the doorframe, leaning on it as well.

Kyohei's smile faded. Shizuo looked back and forth between Kyohei and Izaya, not sure what to do or what was going on.

Kyohei turned briefly to Shizuo then back to Izaya, "I'll leave you two-"

"No!" Izaya looked up almost frantically. "…Don't leave…" Words may be coming out of his mouth but he wasn't sure for how long. He could feel his throat closing up and his tongue burn. The moment of panic about losing Kyohei gave him only a slight ability to speak to him.

Kyohei let out a long sigh. "Okay. I won't leave." There was a long strange silence amongst the three. "…Do…do you want to help us then, Izaya? We're cooking."

"…Trying to. The other's are trying to get a fire-pit set up outside somehow." Shizuo mumbled while looking back at their attempt so far. He grimaced. Izaya gave a nod and walked over to the other two. "By the way, I'm glad they fit."

"Huh? What…fits?" Izaya's eyebrows scrunched looking at the ingredients they had chosen.

"The boots." Izaya jumped slightly as Shizuo reached past him to grab something.

Izaya's cheeks dusted pink. "…Yeah. I like them." He looked down at said boots, trying to hide his blushing face with his dark bangs. Once again, he brought a hand up to his chest as his heart fluttered painfully.

The raven-haired continued avoiding eye contact until he noticed Kyohei looking at him and trying desperately to hold back his laughter. He seemed to be having a great deal of difficulty – if the smirk on his face and tears in his eyes weren't a dead giveaway, the fact the he was biting his lip and voluntary reducing his own breathing proved it.

Izaya puffed up his cheeks and turned away from him as well. Shizuo was scratching his head, oblivious to the whole interaction, trying to figure out how to cut an onion that seemed to be close to expiration. He was trying to peel off layers to get to a part that was usable. "What the hell are we trying to make again?" He blinked, looking at the onion, waiting for one of the other two to answer. When neither did he turned his gaze to them, finally noticing Izaya blushing and Kyohei attempting to hide his laughter. "…What?"

At the sound of Shizuo's voice, Izaya's face turned a deeper red and goose bumps, thankfully hidden under his clothes, prickled his pale skin.

Kyohei couldn't keep it in any longer and burst out in laughter, making Izaya's blush expand to more area on his face and somewhat, of what Kyohei could see, to other parts of his body. "I'm-hahaha-I'm really sorr-hahahahaha!" Kyohei was holding his stomach with one hand and the counter with the other.

Izaya tensed and then tried to push Kyohei over but failed and cursed at his weakened body. "Dotachin is mean!"

Shizuo blinked rapidly. "Did I miss something…?" Shizuo smirked, one eyebrow raised. "What? What did I do?...Izaya?"

Izaya took a moment before turning to the other man. He looked at Shizuo, blushed more, and then turned away from him again. He seemed uncomfortable by the way he was twisting his fingers around in his palms. Izaya ducked his head, as if in shame, while at the same time he brought his anxious hands to cover his red, heated cheeks. Kyohei's laughter was slowing down and he was now trying to catch his breath. When had he last laughed like that? Ever? "Shit…it's goddamn adorable." He straightened a bit. "I'm sorry…I shouldn't have laughed…" Kyohei tried to smile as an apology to Izaya but Izaya wouldn't look him in the eye. He just kept staring at the same spot on the floor, eyes wide, and breathing heavy; he was stuck in his own head again, Kyohei guessed.

"…What is?" Shizuo was starting to piece things together and felt his own face heat up.

"You and Iz-" Before Kyohei could finish Izaya bolted out of the kitchen. Shizuo tried to reach for him but he barely even grazed his sweater.

"Good going…" Shizuo rolled his eyes at his friend as Kyohei let his forehead bump against the counter.

Shizuo strode into the hallway to see the front door open and Izaya standing motionless just outside. He wasn't facing the blond, he couldn't see his face, he couldn't see his expression as he looked out into the devastation. Shizuo stared for a moment, silently taking in everything.

"_I can't do much, Shizuo…" Shinra said. "Please, like I said, please take care of Izaya in the ways that I cannot…He's my friend. And even though we are all here, he still thinks he has no one."_

_Shizuo looked down at Izaya's sleeping face and at his newly bandaged wrist. "What do you mean you 'can't do much'?" Shizuo gritted his teeth._

"_I can fix him up when he bleeds, I can mend broken bones…what I can't do is something you can."_

A strong gust of wind blowing in through the open door tore Shizuo out of his thoughts. Izaya was still standing outside, staring…staring. The blush on his face still present but significantly faded.

"_Don't let him be alone anymore."_ Shinra's last statement to him echoed in his head.

Shizuo took a deep inhale and walked up next to Izaya. It was only then that he could see the grief and disbelief in the informant's eyes. Even more, he saw regret. He saw _loneliness._

"They're dead aren't they?" Izaya whispered. "Saburo, Saki, Namie, my si…" He swallowed a lump in his throat. "…my sisters too? They aren't here."

The question took Shizuo by surprise and he realized this was the first time Izaya had seen what was left of the city since his arrival. "How did you…" Shizuo decided not to finish asking his question. He knew Izaya was smart, he was brilliant. Of course he would notice people missing when others, whom they were close to, were not. He cleared his throat. "…Saburo and Saki, yes. They're de…dead." Shizuo paused. "'Don't know about Namie or Mairu or Kururi…or Kasuka."

"I'm sorry." Izaya spoke softly, nearly emotionlessly. "I shouldn't have pushed everyone away. I should have tried harder. I should have tried harder when I still had the chance."

Shizuo took a moment to think how to respond. Trying to understand Izaya was like trying to read a scrambled email with the computer on but the monitor off. "You have nothing to apologize for…I said 99% of weird shit that happens here is..._was _your doing," Shizuo was trying to smile. "This is that other 1%..."

"I never meant to hurt you." Izaya mumbled. "I never really wanted you dead…I'm glad you're a monster."

Shizuo felt a pang in his heart as he watched Izaya's lips curve into a twisted smile. His eyes were distant, dark…confused and hurt. Somehow, Shizuo understood that this smile – a smile he'd seen thousands of times before – was far from being an expression of pleasure or strange amusement. It was the biggest lie of all…the most terrifying secret Izaya kept.

"Wait here." Shizuo ran into the living room, nearly trampling Kyohei, and grabbed both their coats and his hat. He entered the bedroom, door still laying broken on the floor, retrieved a hat and scarf for Izaya and then returned to the raven who was now staring at Shizuo, his attention diverted from the remnants of the city.

"Shizu-chan…what are you-" Izaya was silenced by Shizuo pulling a knitted hat down on his ruffled black hair and a yellow scarf around his neck. He then handed him his black coat, which he put on since it he was getting really cold by now. While Shizuo was finishing with the toggles on his khaki-colored wool coat, it reached halfway down his thighs, Izaya fiddled with the strange braided yarn that hung next to both his ears, pompoms adorned on the ends.

"Okay! Let's go!" Shizuo unexpectedly gripped Izaya's hand and pulled him forward and down the stairs. Izaya nearly tripping the entire way, he finally caught his balance and jogged to keep up with Shizuo who was still holding his hand and leading him to an unknown place.

"Where are we going?" Izaya was still focused on Shizuo's hand gripping his and knowing his face was heating up again. "Shizu-ch-!"

"Back to the beginning," Shizuo glanced over his shoulder for a moment, a genuine smile on his face - a _Shizuo _smile, kind and a bit sly. "But we'll do it differently this time, alright?"

Izaya nodded, still struggling to keep up with Shizuo's pace. He didn't know the blond could run so fast.

It felt good running with their hands clasped together but it made the pain in Izaya's chest throb at a greater degree. The pain was confusing. How could something hurt but also feel pleasurable simultaneously?

* * *

"Celty." Shinra spoke and it made the dullahan jerk slightly and look up from her gaze focused on the table in front of her. "What's wrong?"

The dullahan didn't move to reply. Not with pen and paper, not with her shadows, and not with her body in any other form. Shinra sat down in the seat next to his beloved.

"You've been acting off. I know something is wrong, so tell me? Please?" Shinra's plea made Celty's heart tie itself into a tight ball. She lifted a hand to her helmet, lightly touching the side as if feeling for her absent cheek. "Are you thinking about your head?"

A nod.

"Are you afraid you won't get it back now that the world is…whatever the world is?"

Once again she didn't reply. Shinra tilted his head and leaned against the table in a way that Celty could see his face. At this Celty turned to look at him.

The two lovers gazed at each other for awhile without any definite expression. Shinra, in an attempted to lighten the mood, gave Celty a sudden goofy smile. The best he could conjure at that moment.

For a moment, Celty simple didn't react at all. But within a few moments, her shoulders were shaking and she was turned away, holding her stomach, seemingly in a fit of giggles.

"Are you laughing at me, Celty?! So mean!" He smiled at his own teasing.

Celty turned to her pad of paper. [You are always so kind and accepting of me, Shinra. Thank you.]

"Eeeh?" Shinra's eyes widened and one of his eyebrows rose while the other scrunched down. "Why wouldn't I be? I love you."

Celty turned away for a moment before turning back and writing something else down for Shinra to read. [Do you love me because I'm a dullahan?]

"What do you mean? I love you because you're you."

[But what if I wasn't _me _anymore? The _me _you know is a 'monster!' Would you still love _me _even if _what I was_ was completely different?]

Shinra's brow furrowed. "I'm not sure what you're asking me, Celty. But I love you for you. You are who you are. You are _what _you are. Even if you change or grow or-"

Celty held up her pad of paper before Shinra could even finish. [That's not what I'm asking! I'm asking you if you would still love me even if I wasn't 'special' anymore – if I wasn't a dullahan anymore! Because part of _who I am _is a dullahan! What if I was human like you, Shinra?]

Shinra froze, stunned. "My answer is still the same. Why wouldn't I love you? You are who you are regardless. And I'm in love with _you._"

The space between them filled with uncomfortable silence. Contemplative. Eerie yet peaceful.

Slowly Celty's body relaxed and she put down her pencil and paper, turned to Shinra, and embraced him in a gentle way, which Shinra had never felt before from Celty.

He did the same back to her.

* * *

"Shizu-chan…" Izaya called to the one still clasping his hand. "…Are we…almost there…?" Izaya was having trouble catching his breath.

Shizuo slowed down to a stop not long after and turned to see Izaya with his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. Shizuo wasn't sure whether to be worried or crack a joke about how out-of-shape Izaya had become until a piece of information rang through his mind.

_Smoke inhalation. _

Shizuo tensed. "Shit! Are you-"

"I'm fine…" He said breathily and holding up a hand to wave Shizuo's concern away. Shizuo waited patiently for Izaya to catch his breath.

When he finally stood straight he looked at Shizuo with the smug smile that was familiar to them both but that no longer held the same affect for either of them.

"Shizu-chan should think more. It isn't _that _hard. Shizu-chan could probably manage."

Shizuo smirked. It was the closest thing to a compliment that he had ever received from the flea. "You remember this place, don't you?"

"Ha?" Izaya looked around at that moment, his eyes widening. "Why are we at Raira?"

"Right now it's Raijin."

The raven spun back around to face Shizuo. "…Raijin…was a long time ago."

"You remember what I said to you when we first met?"

Izaya puffed up his cheeks. "Yeah. You said you didn't like me at all! But I hadn't even gotten the chance to-"

"What are you talking about?" Shizuo said, smirking. "I remember it differently." He had a glint in his eye, Izaya had rarely seen before. "I remember saying, 'Hey, let's be friends. It could be fun."

"…what?" Izaya stared at Shizuo as if he was truly crazy. "That's not what-!"

"We'll go back to the beginning," Shizuo quoted himself. "But we'll do it differently this time."

It was then that Izaya understood what was going on. What Shizuo was trying to accomplish. Shizuo, in his own Shizuo-way, without saying it out loud, was saying _'let's start over.'_

"And you remember what you said to me?" Shizuo smiled that warm smile again, the smile he'd only received twice in his life, both times from Shizuo.

Izaya hesitated, his eyes drifting around the dilapidated school building, the soccer field. Just as he was about to look at the cityscape behind him that was no longer there, he stopped and turned back to face Shizuo.

"You remember don't you?" Shizuo repeated his question.

"I…" Izaya stammered, "I said…" Looking at Shizuo, his once sworn enemy, the one whose glare could have probably killed him if he had let it when it had still been present, Izaya felt the same pain as before. The glare was gone. It hadn't been on Shizuo's face since _before the world started falling apart_. It felt like his chest would collapse but also as though he felt like running around laughing...giggling…but not in his usually maniacal manner.

The blond waited quietly, the kindness never leaving his face. Never faltering. His eyes never looking at anything other than Izaya.

"I said…I said 'I had hoped you'd say that!'" Izaya's lips curved upwards and Shizuo's face brightened further. "I said, 'You're right. We will have a lot of fun together! I know it, ne~'"

Shizuo let out quiet laughter and approached the raven, who noticeably tensed. The blond began raising his hands toward Izaya. His initial reaction was to flinch away, but he forced himself to stay still.

"Izaya…" Shizuo was now cupping the raven's face.

Izaya was trying to look away, seemingly on the edge of having a panic attack, "Shizu-chan, don't…"

Shizuo put his forehead to Izaya's, "I think I love you…"

Something inside Izaya appeared to break. His expression was beyond shocked, he looked nearly blank – too overwhelmed with confusion and pain to even make a sound. He took a minute to internally fight with himself before he started shaking his head, or trying to, since Shizuo was still cupping it. "You can't."

Shizuo brought his face back a bit, looking as though he'd been stabbed by Izaya's flickblade and not his words. He was still trying to get Izaya to look at him. "What? Why not?"

_You have to hate me, Shizu-chan._

Izaya took a deep inhale and started shouting, "Because I _hate_ you! I hate you so much and I'm going to kill you!" Izaya was struggling to talk as if his throat was closing up on him, "I HATE you!"

_I'll __**make**__ you hate me!_

He had that twisted smile again, the same one he had seen not a half-hour ago. Balling up his hands into fists, he started weakly punching Shizuo and trying to push him away. "You can't l-lo…you can't like me because…"

"Izaya…" Shizuo was gripping his shoulders now.

_I'll make you hate me to save us both._

"Go die." As soon as Izaya said those two words, the tears that had been stuck in his eyes overflowed and rushed down his cheeks. "I…ha-…I…I…" His punching and shoving turned into trying to grip Shizuo, seemingly in an attempt to him pull closer. "I hate you…for doing this to me…I didn't want it…I wanted to avoid it altogether."

Shizuo remained silent, barely able to follow Izaya's dialog with himself anyway. He patiently waited until Izaya got it all out of himself, all the dark, terrible things he had stashed, locked away deep inside.

"I don't want it to hurt…" Izaya's sobbing slowed down. God, he was embarrassed by his total lack of control recently. And even knowing this, he couldn't seem to be able to regain it. It's as if all the built up sadness, years worth, was pouring out in the tears he refused to shed for so long - a flood that had washed away his façade and was in the process of drowning what was left of him. "I don't want it to hurt when you leave me."

Then it made sense. Izaya was afraid. He had been afraid this entire time. He'd been alone _on purpose_ to prevent himself from getting hurt. Then Shizuo came along and, he guessed, in Izaya's mind had fucked up his carefully, meticulously, unstably balanced plan of self-isolation – his words were not being reflected in his actions as they had once been. An act of denial, a lie to his own being.

And in his own way, Shizuo had been doing the same thing to himself.

Shizuo watched Izaya trying to wipe his tears away, still trying to lie with his twisted, false yet failed smile. Shizuo gingerly pushed Izaya's hands away from his face and cupped Izaya's cheeks once again. With a new batch of tears running from his eyes, his gaze avoided the blond. "Look at me and tell me that, tell me you hate me, and I'll never bother you again. I'll still love you but I won't ask you to love me back. I won't ask anything of you again. But, right now…please…tell me what you want. Tell me the truth about what you really feel…"

Izaya hesitated, seemingly unable to even look at Shizuo with the thought in mind.

"Don't lie to me anymore." Shizuo spoke softly, knowing he was walking into unknown territory and onto thin ice. His words were focused to Izaya. But, in truth, were for both of them. "More importantly, stop lying to yourself."

Slowly his red eyes found Shizuo's honey irises, his cold hands tangling around Shizuo's wrists. He opened and closed his mouth several times before he spoke. "I'm a liar."

Shizuo tensed but waited for Izaya to continue.

"I'm a liar, Shizuo! I'm a liar!" Izaya now couldn't look away from the blond, nor could Shizuo look away from the raven. "I don't hate you…I _never _hated you. I lied…I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Izaya blinked and then when he opened his eyes, his twisted facial expression was replaced with a genuine, but pained, smile. "I was terrible. I couldn't show it. Couldn't tell you…but…" Izaya choked on a sob before continuing. "I've been in love with you…for a very long time…" Izaya tried to hide behind his bangs again but Shizuo wouldn't let him this time and tilted his face upward. "I'm so…sorry…"

Shizuo felt a smile creep onto his own face while his whole body seemed to relax greatly. He lightly rubbed his thumb over Izaya's cheek and smeared a couple tears away in the process. His thumb slid lower and lightly brushed against the raven's soft lips.

The blond started slowly leaning towards Izaya, who at first leaned away out of surprise, and then when Shizuo halted but didn't back away, continuing to look at Izaya with a look of such desire, Izaya felt a flood of an unidentifiable emotion fill him. The raven's eyelids drooped and he unknowingly leaned closer to the blond until they could feel each other's breath caressing one another.

"I'll never leave you as long as you never leave me." Shizuo whispered.

The words sank in deep and curled around both their hearts. It felt like feathers, tickling their stomachs and salve soothing the bruises from each other built up over years. Both timidly leaned in at the same time and their lips met.

The kiss was soft and delicate. It was warm. It was so warm. The warmth spread to fill their bodies. It was as if they'd been alive but not living before. Like a part of each of them had died long ago and was now being reborn.

They hadn't even realized until that moment they'd missed the pieces of themselves, which had been dead, cold, and frozen over for what now seemed like it had been an eternity.

Shizuo let go of Izaya's face and wrapped his arms around the raven's slightly arched back, pulling the shorter man closer to himself, lifting him upward so that only Izaya's toes touched the cement below him. Izaya didn't tense this time. Rather, he wrapped his own arms around Shizuo and let himself relax…let himself be _vulnerable_…for once in his life.

For a moment the world wasn't on fire. It wasn't cold. It wasn't burning to the ground.

For a moment, they were together. They were safe. They were happy.

* * *

To be Continued...

AuthorNote: Heh heh heh...this chapter was mostly Izaya/Shizuo. What are you talking about? I'm not obsessed with them. Why would you say that... [sweating bullets]

I HAVE NO REGRETS NOR SHAME :D

Look forward to Chapter 13. And, oh yeah, sorry for not updating in for-fucking-ever.


	13. Chapter 13 - What We Used To Know

Our Armageddon

Chapter 13

AuthorNote: Thanks peeps. I don't have much to say at the moment. Having trouble with getting writer's block recently...thus the inconsistent, kinda short, and rare chapters...But don't worry. I plan to see this thing through.

Have fun reading!

* * *

Erika stared at the matchbox in her hands. Starting a campfire in the middle of Tokyo was no easy task albeit a bit easier now that the entire city had been reduced to rubble.

"_At least we won't run out of kindling." _Erika smirked at her thoughts. Her eyes still hovered over the box of matches. She had taken one out of the box already but had stopped short upon attempting to strike it.

"Erika?" Masaomi spoke from her right. "Light the match already…It's frigid out here. And we're all hungry."

She looked over to the young blond boy. His attention had already diverted to Anri and Mikado, who stood a bit of distance away. They were caught up in conversation. Seemingly something serious as their body language held social tics; Mikado scratching the back of his neck and Anri's gaze gravitating towards Kida then away upon seeing his eyes upon her.

"Yo! Erika! Start the fire, will you?" Erika turned back to see Masaomi glaring at her.

"_I took these off a bunch of dead kids." _Was all Erika could think but she didn't dare let that thought out of her head. _"You probably knew them…"_ She shook herself out of her thoughts and started to strike the match against the box but at this point she had had her gloves off for too long. Her fingers stiffened by the cold.

"For fucks sake…" Masaomi snatched the match and the box out of her hands, struck it to ignite, and then attempted to get the kindling to light. The flame went out almost instantly. "Look, it's cold and windy…This could take some time to get started…Go inside and warm up. You've done more than your share of work already."

Erika nodded and rose to her feet. She started making her way up the stairs when she noticed Simon approaching. "Simon! Where have you been?"

Simon placed a cardboard box next to Masaomi. "Food. We need to cook it soon. Meat will spoil quick."

"Where'd you find this stuff?" Kida was nearly drooling just at the thought of eating.

"Hmm…" The Russian's gaze fell. "I needed to know. So I went back home. Just for awhile, just to make sure."

"…Simon." Erika sighed.

Masaomi silently went back to lighting the fire.

"Did you find what you needed?" Erika asked as Simon walked past her on the stairs.

He nodded. "I found nothing spared from disaster. It is what I needed to see."

* * *

Shizuo stroked Izaya's hair as Izaya leaned his head against Shizuo's shoulder. They had moved inside the Raijin Academy building some time ago and ended up sitting against the wall of one of their old classrooms. They had revisited certain areas and changed what had transpired there, even if time couldn't be reversed, they would rewrite their memories.

"_Izaya, remember when we shared lunch on the roof?"_

"_I remember I made Shizu-chan spill his milk by making him laugh! I brought you a replacement the next day though~"_

"_Yeah, and when you were sent to the nurse with a fever, I came to make sure you were okay."_

"_But I didn't want you to leave."_

"_You begged me to stay. So I skipped class for you. Just so I could sit next to you."_

"Nn. Shizu-chan has always been very kind…" Izaya rubbed his face against Shizuo's neck.

Shizuo's fingers stilled momentarily. "Izaya…?"

"I didn't really deserve it though…I wasn't a very good pers-"

"Tch! You've always been too hard on yourself." Shizuo tried to divert Izaya from his self-destructive thinking.

Izaya didn't say another word but by now Shizuo knew this didn't mean much. The man was always thinking as if he had an inability to stop. The blond wrapped his other arm around the raven feeling his shivers increase.

"We should be getting back…" Shizuo suggested. Izaya didn't respond so Shizuo took a peek to see if the raven had fallen asleep. He was almost surprised when he saw his eyelids drooping but two red orbs still shifting around the enclosed space. Shizuo rubbed his hands over Izaya's arms. "Come on. You're cold. We really need to-"

"Shizuo." Izaya spoke his full name with little emotion. "I want to go to Shinjuku."

"…What? Why?!" Shizuo's voice rumbled as if he were angry about the idea. But he felt more scared than anything else. Confusion was the second emotion to surface right after the initial shock of the request.

Izaya shifted his weight to stand. "I…" He looked away from Shizuo. "I need something very important from my apartment…"

"Your apartment…Simon said it burned down!"

"Nn…Even so…I want to know for sure…" His voice trailed off.

Shizuo sighed. He already knew he couldn't argue with the other. The man was stubborn and at times…obsessive.

Once something got into Izaya's mind, it wouldn't leave until the man had picked the thought clean.

* * *

Erika 's eyes were downcast as she walked into their shared living space. Simon was already talking with the other two in the room, Kyohei and Walker. Kyohei wasn't doing much of anything except zoning out while watching Walker mess with the hand-crank radio they had found prior. Simon would ask questions and Kyohei would answer. So to say the Russian was talking to both Kyohei _and _Walker wasn't quite right.

Simon would ask questions to both Kyohei and Walker. But only Kyohei would really say anything in response.

Walker seemed to be getting frustrated for one reason or another. It was a pattern; he'd adjust the radio dial in an attempt to find a usable station. He'd gasp as if he'd heard something other than static that no one else heard then groan as if he'd lost the right frequency.

Rinse and repeat.

Erika cringed and tightened her fists. _"We're all slowly loosing our minds, aren't we?"_

Kyohei lazily tilted his head from a bottle of whiskey in his hand, towards the young woman who continued to stand isolated in the doorway. He looked again briefly at the now near-empty whiskey, a lucky find he'd kept hidden. He hadn't been using it much until a day or two ago. Each day he seemed to drink proportionally more than the last. At first he didn't speak. He didn't feel the need or the point in helping the girl. The world was doomed anyway. But he could feel a part of himself deep in the back of his mind, yelling and screaming for him to get up, to go to her and to say something – _to say anything._

This annoyed Kyohei. He didn't want it anymore, didn't want to care. It hurt and he knew it would continue to hurt. But despite all that, despite the fact he wished he could stop caring, he couldn't. He just wasn't ready yet to give up that piece of himself.

"Erika." Kyohei almost didn't recognize his own voice, now scratchy and worn, a bit slurred. The girl looked up at him. At this point Kyohei couldn't think of what to say or what he might have said in the times before the destruction. "There's no use spending so much time in your own head. Whatever you're thinking about, don't let it destroy you."

"…_don't let yourself destroy you like I am." _Kyohei shook the remnant thought from his head and groaned.

The girl relaxed but once again her eyes gravitated to look at the floor. Kyohei opened his mouth to say something else but no words would come. He searched his mind for something to say but came up short.

"Why? Why?! Why-why-why-why-why!" Walker growled and tossed the radio towards the other side of the room. He put his head in his hands, taking several quick deep breaths – panting.

At this point Erika sighed and walked towards her friend in need. She knelt down beside him and put her hand on his back. "You tried…it's all ri-"

Walker smacked Erika's hand away and stood. "It's _not _'all right!' We're all going to die here! Doesn't that thought bother any of you?!"

Erika stood as well, glaring daggers at Walker. "So, what would _you _have us do, _Walker? _Huh? Since you apparently are the _only _one of us who cares about _living_." The words tasted like venom in her mouth but she couldn't stop herself from speaking. "What do you **want** me to say? While you're having a panic attack?"

"The truth!" Walker tossed a glare right back at Erika.

"The _truth_?" Erika snarled, "You _want_ me to say we're all probably doing to die here? That the world we knew is gone? That our world is dead and soon we will be too? Whether it's from starvation, hypothermia, or some shit disease? _That's _the 'truth' you want to hear from _me_? The truth in _your_ head?"

Walker growled. "We're all just screwing around day-to-day. We have no plan and we aren't making one. We'll run out of supplies sooner or later or we'll freeze to death. Or, hey! Maybe we'll start killing each other once we all go insane! If we live that long."

Walker pushed the radio with his foot. A melancholy expression on his face, he waited for Erika's next retort. When it didn't come, he turned to look at her.

Erika wasn't glaring at him anymore. Nearly all emotion had drained from her face. She slightly shook her head while looking at the boy in front of her. "If it's so pointless to you and you don't want to wait for death then go for a walk and find it."

"Christ, Erika…" Kyohei sighed. "That's a little harsh."

Erika's eyes flitted towards where she had entered, as if to challenge Walker. When Walker didn't make a move to leave, she walked towards him, picked up the radio and thrust it back into Walker's grasp. "This is your lifeline right now."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Walker let out the breath he'd been holding.

"It means, until you find something else, this is your reason for staying alive right here, right now." Erika gave Walker a small, forced smile. "It may all be pointless. We may all end up dead soon or maybe the pain of this new world will never end, but you'll find reasons to keep living. We all will. We all have to."

Walker looked down at the radio in his hands and nodded solemnly.

* * *

"Celty…" Shinra held the headless woman as her body shook. "Whatever it is that you're keeping to yourself, I can see it hurting you. Why won't you talk to me about whatever it is?"

They were lying on the bed. _Their bed._ The piles of clothes and supplies had been pushed to the cold floor. They were wrapped in the bed sheets that they hadn't changed since the start of all the madness. They smelled musty and they provided little warmth at the moment. It was all very familiar, yet eerie because this home wasn't the same place, except it _was. _

"Please…please tell me." Shinra held Celty tighter in his hold. He ran a hand over the smooth surface of her helmet and wondered why she kept it on at all times now. He would have thought she wouldn't need it now with how few people they saw wandering the city.

The other survivors were far and few between. Most didn't want to be bothered. Some of them seemed scared - others were terrified, running off when they had been approached.

Shinra had gone out a couple times with a few of the others. Once they had run into a man who was hostile towards them and carried a gun. He would have been a threat if it hadn't been for Simon who immediately disarmed the man who, without his gun to make him feel safe, ran off without a word.

Celty abruptly pushed Shinra away, sitting up and resting her "head" in her hands. He watched as her grip tightened, as her fingers scraped down the sides of the plastic, and watched as she would occasionally run her hands around her neck as if something were there that she wasn't used to or didn't want because it felt uncomfortable. Shinra watched Celty fidget and it felt strange since Celty rarely used to fidget.

Shinra watched his beloved as she fell apart.

For a moment, Shinra thought he might have heard actual sounds of crying coming from Celty. But he shook the thought away, tried to attribute it to sleep deprivation or intense stress.

However, the sounds that seemed to be gasps and sobs continued and Shinra came to a theory he didn't think could be possible.

"Celty…Why haven't you taken off your helmet?" Shinra's voice cracked near the end of his sentence.

Shinra watched Celty's body stiffen to a greater degree. Her tremors ceased, the noises stopped, and it was as if she had turn to stone.

* * *

To be continued.

AuthorNote: sorry this chapter is super short. like I said, I'm working on tearing down writer blocks.

See you in Chapter 14!


	14. Chapter 14 - The Greatest Lesson

Our Armageddon

Chapter 14

A/N: Yo thanks for sticking with me. Winter is an especially tough time for me. And I've been going through a lot of deep shit stuff the past few years so some days writing just doesn't happen. Some days I'm proud of myself for just getting out of bed. Or eating. Life is tough. The world hurts sometimes and it can be painful to live. But I'd rather be in it, fully in it. Because there's too much damn beauty in the world to quit. So much beauty. There's a song that hits me deep called "Tomorrow Will Be Kinder" by The Secret Sisters. I'm young. If you must know, I'm in my twenties. I'm probably older than a bunch of you and younger than some too. But I've seen and felt and experienced so much already. And I can tell you, anyone who will listen, that "tomorrow will be kinder." It's true. I couldn't tell you how many times I thought I was at the end of my rope. Or how lost I've felt and hopeless, like nothing would ever get better. And I somehow keep getting up when I fall down. But, I know it, peeps. Tomorrow will be kinder. I felt it, I've seen it, I've cried when those 'tomorrows' have come. Even if or when life starts hurting again, when I fear it won't change or that I won't be happy again, I just remember that 'tomorrow will be kinder' because 'I've seen it before.'

Wow, that got deep. Hehe...didn't mean to go there but whatevs.

...well regardless, if it resonated with you, I'm glad. That makes me happy to think my words meant something to someone. Just know that what I've said is true. And that when you feel at your lowest, know that you're worth it. You are worthy to be happy and are lovable. And even though I don't know you personally, know that I love you like a sister or a brother or a best friend, that I want you to be happy. You're all truly beautiful. Don't forget that.

All right. Now, with that said, enjoy some more of Our Armageddon. And thanks again for reading it.

* * *

The walk to Shinjuku had been eerie and filled with silence for most of the trek. Shizuo, for a time, attempted to talk to Izaya in a way to lighten the mood or at least to understand more about what Izaya thought he was doing. For a while Izaya would answer but with each question Shizuo asked, Izaya's responses got quieter and more vague, until he stopped responding completely.

The blond ex-bartender wondered if the informant's mind had gone somewhere else again.

_What was the word Shinra used…? Disassociation? _

Shizuo sighed and watched his breath float away and dissipate in the cold. The walk seemed longer than it used to feel. And too quiet. Especially since Izaya had stopped talking to him for the time being. The city was supposed to be vibrant and loud and, at times, incredibly annoying and at other times…beautiful.

It wasn't anything like that now. It wasn't even a city anymore. It was just…ruins.

He snapped out of his thoughts when he bumped into Izaya's back, not having noticed the raven had stopped. Shizuo looked over Izaya's shoulder at what he was staring at so intently.

Shizuo's chest tightened and he swallowed a lump that had formed in his throat.

_This is what's left of his apartment…? _Shizuo felt a shiver run down his spine as he looked at the piles of bricks and of charred wood and broken glass. There really wasn't much left more than that of a partial skeleton of a building that once stood.

Izaya stepped towards what was left. Shizuo reached out and grabbed his hand. Izaya looked back at Shizuo, head slightly tilted.

"Let's go back to Ikebukuro…this is pointless. There's nothing left here…I'm sorry." Shizuo pleaded with him more out of concern than anything else, Izaya assumed.

The raven pulled his hand out of Shizuo's and started walking amongst the rumble that was once his home. He had to find it. It might still be around. The container was built to protect the rarity it held…Izaya had looked at it dozens of times. He knew it could potentially have survived this destruction. He needed to look…he wanted to try. He really wanted to try this time…

…to do the right thing. To give Celty back her head.

That's why it had to still be here! It couldn't be destroyed or gone! His chance at redemption had to still exist. The world wouldn't hate him anymore if he did this, right? Or what was left of the world…or what was left of _his _world.

Izaya was pushing rubble out of his way. He had no system in doing this, what he chose to search under was entirely random. He wasn't used to doing things randomly but the suppressed panic was surfacing again. As his mind became more frantic, so did his actions.

He didn't know how long he'd been looking when he decided to stop. Panting, he looked at his hands covered in black soot and dirt. He'd been so lost in his head again, it took a moment to come back to reality. He was afraid to look around for Shizuo for fear he'd left him already. Who'd want to stick it out with some crazy person as they dug through the remains of their former life?

Izaya didn't move. His mind stopped completely. After a moment, the panic subsided. But instead of feeling some other emotion he may or may not have wanted, he felt nothing at all, which was just as unpleasant. His fists clenched at his sides. He started to forget again. He ran facts through his mind in an attempt to remember and to keep hold of reality.

_His name was Izaya Orihara._

_He was an Information Broker…_

_He lived in…Shinjuku…?_

_His rival…was…_

_His rival was…was…_

…_?_

_His name was Izaya Orihara…_

_He lived…somewhere in Tokyo…_

_His used to be some sort of broker?_

_His name was…his name…_

His body started to shake and he wrapped his arms around himself. He suddenly started feeling the cold he had been ignoring. But at the same time he felt hot…burning. He was burning and freezing at the same time.

_His name…was…?_

"Izaya? You okay?" Shizuo's voice brought him back fairly quickly. Izaya turned to look for the blond and found him just beyond the wreckage, still waiting for Izaya to be done with whatever he was doing. "Come on…let's go back."

For a moment he didn't move and then he shook his head vigorously. "In a minute." Izaya sighed.

_His name was Izaya Orihara._

_His riv-…His __**former**__ rival's name was Shizuo Heiwajima._

"…I'm almost ready." Izaya turned back to the ruins once again but this time a lot calmer than he had been.

"Alright. Be quick though?" Shizuo called back, adding a mumbled, "I'm getting hungry…"

Izaya snickered. "Beasts are _always hungry_. Ne? Shizu-chan?"

"Just hurry up…"

Izaya walked a bit farther in and was startled when his foot collided with something that made a hollow echo. He looked down while moving his foot backwards. Whatever it was was peaking out from under a piece of a burnt beam, which Izaya quickly moved.

His eyes widened. The container was right in front of him. Undamaged. Unopened…still filled with the fluid that had shared space with the head the container held…

…but somehow the head was gone. It was empty but didn't seem to have been tampered with.

Izaya's heart dropped. He only stared at the useless container for a moment more. Then he turned around and walked back to Shizuo. "Alright…I'm done…" He spoke as he passed the blond who quickened his pace trying to catch up with the man he knew to be upset. "This was a stupid idea…" Izaya mumbled and Shizuo assumed he wasn't meant to have heard him say it to himself.

* * *

Shinra couldn't tear his eyes away. It was unbelievable, unexpected, and he didn't know how to feel about it. Celty sat in front of him, her helmet in her lap. Instead of the black smoke, which normally would flow freely from her neck, Shinra was looking at _her face. _Shinra's gaze traced over every detail. From her lips to her eyes to her ears and the color of her hair, he wanted to see all of her. Celty was looking down and to the side and Shinra, for once, couldn't tell what she was thinking or feeling.

"..Celty…When did you find it?" Shinra asked as he brought a hand to her cheek, caressing it.

Celty turned her gaze to Shinra. "I didn't." She spoke. Shinra looked baffled so she continued. "I started feeling strange…Remember the day I went to look for Shooter?"

"Was it then?"

"No." Celty continued. "Or at least, I don't know. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure when or how it happened. But soon after I went looking for my horse…soon after I realized he had vanished…or maybe left…I felt it returning. And for a while, I didn't dare look. I wasn't sure if I wanted to know or even wanted it back anymore."

Shinra took Celty's hand in his and went to kissing each knuckle one by one. "You're just was beautiful as you've always been."

Celty put her other hand to stroke Shinra's hair. It was unspoken between them. But they both knew at that moment, that this changed nothing between them. Their fears and concerns vanished and the love that had been slightly obscured returned to its former vibrancy.

"Should we tell the others?" Shinra asked.

"Soon. For now, can we stay like this? Just like this…I just want to be with you right now." Celty bumped her forehead onto Shinra's. They smiled, a slight blush on both their cheeks.

* * *

Walker continued to mess with the radio. He started to find new and different places to try to get reception. Some locations were more successful than others. At one point he heard someone speaking in a different language and wished he knew which one and how to understand what was being said.

He had wondered for a brief moment if it might be Russian but upon asking Simon, it was confirmed as something else. It was a language from a bordering country. Simon didn't specify which country or what language it was, Walker didn't know if Simon was even sure what language it was. All he could say for certain was that he couldn't understand what was being said either.

So now Walker sat on the roof with the radio. He was shielded from the wind by sitting in a shed he presumed used to be used by maintenance staff when it was still an active apartment building.

He had zoned out long ago but continued to move the dial back and forth rhythmically, entranced by the static that emanated from the speaker.

Walker was startled out of his daze by voices. After a moment listening carefully to the still static-y sounds, his eyes widened in realization that he could understand what they were saying, that they were speaking Japanese!

_[…is a national broadcast…*khhhh*…a state of emergancy…*khhhkhh*]_

Walker barely moved the dial from left to right hoping to get a clearer sound. He was afraid he would loose the station...possibly forever. His hands started shaking especially when, for a moment, he could hear nothing but static again.

_[This is a national broadcast. Japan's status has changed to a State of Emergency Level One. Any survivors are urged to report to the closest shelter for aid. Following is a list of established emergency shelters…]_

Walker listened intently to the point he no longer knew anything else around him. All he heard was the voice on the radio. He listened carefully to each shelter location, trying to remember each of them but finding it difficult the first time around. Luckily the broadcast was on repeat, so he listened to it again. And again. And again. And again. He was trying desperately to engrain each location in his brain and was so focused he hadn't noticed Simon enter the shed.

"Walker? Radio is working now?" Simon spoke, startling Walker.

Walker nodded, still mostly listening to the radio broadcast. He was still trying to remember and, unfortunately, failing miserably.

Simon tilted his head and listened as well. Japanese wasn't his native tongue so it was significantly more difficult for him to understand the message. Then his eyes widened. "I will get paper and pen." He stated and hurried away.

Walker hadn't noticed him leave. He continued to sit on the floor, repeating the words silently after the radio voice.

* * *

"Izaya, slow down." Shizuo's voice barely registered. It was garbled and he couldn't understand him. Izaya couldn't understand Shizuo or himself or the world or other people anymore.

"_So stupid_." Izaya's pace kept speeding up without him noticing. His breath was ragged; he could feel his heart beating itself into a bloody pulp and his stomach twisting around itself like a boa-constrictor._ "I'm so stupid!"_

"Izaya, will you look at me? Tell me what's wrong." Shizuo's voice was firm but Izaya still didn't understand him, wouldn't look at him, wouldn't talk, couldn't hear him, couldn't feel him next to him.

The border between reality and nightmare had blurred again, too smudged to be distinguished this time, and Izaya was too tired and too far-gone to try to search for the real world. _"Stupid stupid stupid stupid idiot moron! Why can't I do anything right? I can't I do anything…right. Why am I so terrible? I'm a terrible person. They all hate me and for good reason. Besides…I don't even like me. How could I?"_

Izaya suddenly stopped walking, his eyes going distant and his expression going entirely blank. He knew Shizuo was there with him. Talking to him, his hands were gripping each of Izaya's upper arms. Shizuo was there trying to pull him back. Shizuo was with him and he was _trying _his hardest to tether Izaya to the world neither of them understood any longer.

Shizuo was trying, he was calling out to Izaya and all Izaya could bear to do was stand still. He could barely feel Shizuo's hold on his arms. There was nothing else. Izaya couldn't even feel Shizuo's grip on him as a person right now. Even as the feeling of his cold hands on him was fading, he couldn't bear to do anything about it.

"IZAYA! Snap out of it!" Shizuo's voice finally pierced through the void. Izaya looked up at the fake blonde. The other man's face held terror; eyebrows knit together, his lip looked like he had been biting down on it, all of his muscles were tense.

Izaya lazily blinked and slowly shook his head. "Ah…Shizu-chan…what are you doing here…? You've come to finally end me, ne?"

Shizuo's breath hitched. Looking at the raven in front of him, he looked dazed…what did he mean by that? Was Izaya so far checked out that he had no clue what was currently going on? Maybe he needed water? Maybe food. When was the last time he'd eaten? Had he been out in the cold too long? Had he seen something that set him off?

What would Shinra do? He'd watched the underground doctor so many times by now he should be able to at least _guess _what Shinra might start with in an instance like this.

He watched as Izaya's head lulled to the side and his mostly neutral expression turned deeper into no expression at all, the expression of a human shell. "Izaya, can you answer a few questions?"

He perked up slightly at this. "Eh? Shizu-chan wants to play 20-Questions now? Shizu-chan's so weird…no wonder Shizu-chan has so few friends~"

That hurt. Shizuo flinched at the flea's words even if he had no idea what he was saying at the moment.

Shizuo took a deep breath to calm himself then continued. "Yeah. It's just a game. You like games, don't 'ya?"

Izaya just stared so Shizuo went on.

"…So first question. Where are we standing right now?" Shizuo felt strange asking the raven such a simple question especially when Izaya started giggling uncontrollably.

"Shizu-chan really is a dumb brute~"

Shizuo hoped the pain from the comment hadn't shown on his face. Or at least, that Izaya hadn't seen it. "Will you just answer the question?"

But Izaya didn't answer. His mouth opened and closed several times but he did nothing but look around his surroundings. His expression hadn't even changed.

"What about…your age?" Shizuo asked and Izaya furrowed his eyebrows.

"…My age? That's rude…" His eyes glanced to the side of Shizuo.

"Do you have to fight me with everything, flea?" Shizuo growled. He was frusterated…but also he felt guilty for feeling that way right now.

"…Shizu-chan." Izaya's voice was so tiny and helpless that it sent shivers down the blonde's spine. "…I…I…eh, Shizu-chan, what are you doing here…? You've come to finally end me, ne?"

Shizuo's heart dropped. He was repeating himself. Something was wrong…It looked like he could barely keep his eyes open or himself standing upright. "We have to get you back to Shinra's…"

Without wasting any more time, Shizuo positioned Izaya on his back; holding the raven behind his knees and leaning forward enough so that the raven's chest rested on his back and his head slumped between Shizuo's chin and shoulders. It concerned him that the raven made no complaints and didn't struggle even a little.

"Just hold on…It'll be okay. We're not that far." With that he started walking.

Moments started flying by and Shizuo was left alone in his head. He should have been more careful. How _could _he be so careless? Izaya had almost _died _alone out here when this had all started. Why would he have thought this would have been okay? He should've said 'no' to searching Shinjuku! He should've listened to his gut. And yet, again, he'd failed to do that and regretted it like last time.

"_He's so light…maybe he hasn't been eating?"_ Shizuo shifted his weight to readjust the raven. _"Even so…why am I having any trouble at all with carrying him?"_

Shizuo knew something had been changing in all of them. Kyohei had been right. And the more and more Shizuo had fused over the thought, the more he noticed even the littlest of changes in those around him, himself included. Every last one of them was dealing with this destruction. And they were all dealing with it differently. But he knew there was just as much, if not more, going on inside each of them. It was hidden, a secret, they each kept it were no one could see or judge. Sometimes they even kept it locked away from themselves.

"_I'm Shizuo Heiwajima, damnit all! I'm the strongest man in Tokyo! My body doesn't have the same limits as everyone else…so why am I feeling so weak?"_

He didn't know when he'd started feeling that way. He supposed it had happened sometime after the destruction and only noticed it as it gradually seemed to grow. At first he had been trying to ignore it; he'd been trying to hide it from himself. But now, he couldn't deny something about his strength was different.

He shifted Izaya's weight again. _"I should have gone after you after that quake…"_ The pit of Shizuo's stomach felt like a black-hole and it churned with all the thoughts of what had gone wrong and what _could _have also gone wrong. All worst case scenarios, every single one, ran through his head at monumental speed.

"…How can feeling nothing hurt so much…" Izaya mumbled, probably not even aware he had said it. "…it hurts."

Shizuo decided to test the waters. "I thought you might have fallen asleep."

At first Izaya was silent so Shizuo assumed he was still delusional but Shizuo twitched slightly when he heard Izaya groan in reply. "No…I don't think I did."

"We're almost there so hold on a little longer, okay?" Shizuo tried to keep his voice calm even if his mind was racing.

"…Shizu-chan…I'm sorry." Izaya whispered. "I can't…it's all cloudy. Like a dream but I know it wasn't, so I'm sorry I said those things to you." Izaya let out a sigh that crawled all over any of Shizuo's exposed skin, making him shiver. "Shizu-chan's warm…smells nice."

"Could you tell me what happened?" Shizuo wasn't sure if he should ask or not but did anyway hoping he might be able to do something more _useful _if, or more likely when, it happened again. "…Do you even know?"

He felt Izaya shake his head slowly. "No…I don't know…not really. Ah…so confusing." Shizuo waited, assuming he might say more. "It's like…a storm in my head. And all my thoughts and memories are caught up in it. Twisting and turning and warping…it's so tiring. It makes me want to be somewhere else…but…wherever I go to when that happens…it doesn't feel good either."

"Then why do you do that?" Shizuo asked, wondering why he didn't, or even if Izaya could, 'turn it off.' "Why do you 'go somewhere else'?"

"…I don't think I have a choice. It just happens." Izaya buried his face into Shizuo's neck. "I don't have any control over it."

Shizuo was trying to take it all in but still found himself baffled. "I see."

"…it's so cold Shizuo…it's lonely…" Izaya's fists gripped the blonde's shirt.

For a moment they stayed in deafening silence.

"I'll never leave you as long as you never leave me." Shizuo's voice was genuine when it finally came. It was gentle. His voice spoke his truth, what he wanted and needed, but without demanding anything in return. Izaya knew Shizuo wasn't fishing for a response. And he wasn't just trying to make him feel better. He had said it because he felt it. That was all there was to it.

Izaya shifted slightly and rubbed his face in Shizuo's neck more. Taking in his warmth and his scent. "I'll stay by your side as long as you are by mine." He breathed the words as if they were natural…effortless to say.

And when those words tied tightly around them, suddenly neither man felt the need to explain anything more. They each knew they had hurt and been hurt but it didn't seem to matter…

…because they were each learning how to love and be loved.

* * *

To be continued.

A/N See you next chapter, my peeps!


	15. Chapter 15 - Don't Leave, Follow Me Down

Our Armageddon

Chapter 15

A/N: You'd think by the 15th chapter I'd be able to spell Armageddon without help from spell check. Thanks dyslexia. -Flips table-

Yeah so, I'm back hopefully for awhile. And as I _could _write a whole long explanation of where the fuck I went, why didn't I update yada yada yada and subsequently apologizing profusely...I'll save you from all that.

Shit happened, I took care of it, ended up with writer's block (unrelated)... and now here we are again! Yay! -Throws confetti-

Have fun, peeps! Good to be back!

* * *

_Izaya walked side by side with Shizuo contemplating taking the blonde's hand in his own frigid digits. It should be easy! Simple! He should have done it already. But the raven couldn't seem to bring himself to do it. It wasn't out of nervousness, not out of embarrassment, and definitely not shame; Izaya felt like he'd been taxidermied and put on display._

_His body felt like it had been stuffed with sand and his head felt like cotton that'd been soaked with rainwater, damp and sticky and cold. He felt like he'd cling to anything in an instant if it came close enough into contact with him._

_He wanted Shizuo's hand, to reach out and grab it. His hand was something he _wanted _so desperately to cling to forever. And as soon as he gained enough control to twitch his own hand upwards, Shizuo disappeared._

_Gone. Shizu-chan was just...gone. Had he blacked out again? Had he been hallucinating Shizuo from the start?_

"_Kasuka! Wait!" Shizuo's voice pierced through Izaya's confusion. He turned just in time to see Kasuka's figure disappear around a corner and into an alleyway. Shizuo was close behind. Izaya tried to followed, tried to run or even move, but he felt himself collapse to the ground, paralyzed. His legs wouldn't listen to him in the slightest! He struggled against his own body failing him as he watched as Shizuo backed out of the alleyway slowly._

_There was a gun being pointed at him. He couldn't see the figure, he couldn't even really see the gun, but he could feel the pure terror while watching Shizuo trying to negotiate with whoever was holding him up. Izaya struggled harder to get himself off the ground but the harder he tried, the less his limbs cooperated._

'_Shizuo!' Izaya yelled. He _had _actually yelled and yet he had no voice. Frantically he tried again but to no avail. There was no sound coming from him even though he could feel himself screaming at the top of his lungs._

_He bit his lip and watched with wide eyes and a throbbing in his chest as the offender pulled the trigger._

* * *

"Shizuo! SHIZUO!" Izaya felt himself fall onto concrete. He couldn't understand or recognize where he was. Nothing looked familiar, not even the blonde who was trying to help him up again. His breathing was rigid and heavy, staggered and raspy, as if he were suffocating.

Izaya pushed the other man's hands away as he repeatedly tried to get a hold of the raven.

"No, no, no, no, no...you can't be dead, you can't die. You're a monster. You're supposed to live! You're supposed to survive everything!" Izaya clutched his obsidian locks, nearly pulling his hair out from the roots in chunks.

He probably would have if it hadn't been for the fortissimo preventing him from doing so.

Shizuo didn't know what was happening. One minute he had been carrying a sleeping Izaya on his back, quite peacefully, the next the smaller man was lashing out and thrashing until he pulled right out of Shizuo's grip and fell to the hard ground. "You're okay...Izaya. You're okay. You're safe." He held on to the raven for dear life, as if the other man would fall to pieces if he let him go. Shizuo sighed, not knowing what to do. They were so close to home and it tore Shizuo up inside that he couldn't just heal Izaya's tortured mind then and there.

"No...stop...please stop talking…" Izaya's fingers clenched and unclenched the fabric of Shizuo's coat. "You can't go...Don't leave without me..." Izaya sobbed. Shizuo was wondering if he was talking to him or himself. "Please stop...make it stop…"

"Hey, Izaya?" Shizuo spoke calmly even though he felt about as far from calm as one can get. The raven didn't speak or motion to acknowledge Shizuo in anyway, but he quieted down the tiniest bit that anyone other than Shizuo would have missed the body language entirely. "I'm fine. See?"

Izaya looked up slowly, his eyes jerking around Shizuo's facial features as if to confirm and reconfirm that Shizuo was indeed Shizuo.

"I'm okay. And you _are safe_." Shizuo was thankful he was finally listening to his instincts again because Izaya seemed to be reacting well to what he was saying on a whim.

Shizuo steadied his own breathing when Izaya finally, still without speaking, nodded to him shakily albeit slowly. He wasn't going to lie to himself, whenever Izaya went 'somewhere else', it scared Shizuo to a level of fear he didn't know existed.

"Hey! Are you guys alright?" Kida's voice echoed towards them. Next to him stood Anri and next to her stood Kadota. They were standing a small distance away, presumably had come running when they heard their voices.

"Yeah! We're fine. Just tired. Kinda stayed out too long…" Shizuo voiced back.

Kyohei stepped forward to give Shizuo a hand with helping Izaya who was still seemingly in a state of shock. As he helped him up along with Shizuo, who was on Izaya's other side, he leaned close to the former bartender. "What happened?" he whispered.

Shizuo looked at Kyohei, then shook his head discretely, signalling that either he didn't know or he'd tell him later. Kyohei suspected the latter, or more likely a mixture of both, when Shizuo then motioned with his eyes towards Anri and, more importantly, Masaomi.

"We cooked some food on a fire outside. Most of it is still warm." Kida turned from them and headed back towards the apartment, the last bit of his sentence trailing off. None of the others missed the disgusted glare sent Izaya's way. Nor did anyone miss the low growl coming from Shizuo soon after.

As they passed Anri, who had yet to move in the slightest, Kyohei nudged her shoulder and nodded his head in the direction of their _humble_ home together. She had been staring out towards fallen buildings and overturned cars but obliged nearly instantaneously as if trying to hide something or hide _from _something. Anri wasn't sure which she was doing anymore.

Anri fidgeted as she walked side by side with the three men. Contemplating how to say what she wanted to say. Her tongue suddenly felt like coarse sandpaper and she couldn't help feeling imaginary hands around her neck as she felt out of breath.

Something then pierced her stomach and she stopped abruptly, clutching it. The pain was agonizing and yet she knew it wasn't really there. For a moment her eyes glowed red and then faded to their natural color again.

"Anri?" Shizuo spoke, Kyohei starred.

"Ah...eh...it's nothing. I'm okay…"

"You look like you're in pain…" Shizuo cringed when Anri flinched again. "...Agony…"

"It's not...I...I'm fine…" After stating this, she looked behind her towards a particularly large pile of rubble, her eyes only glowing again for a second before diminishing once more.

"Kadota...can you make sure Shinra checks Izaya immediately?" Shizuo spoke, his voice laced with worry.

Kadota nodded. "Yeah, no problem."

When the other two were out of sight, Shizuo crouched down to Anri's much shorter altitude. "You feel something too...don't you?"

Anri jolted, staring at Shizuo speechlessly before confirming with a slight nod. "I'm feeling them less and less. Only when they're close...and not for long. Even Saika's voice...I can't...can't hear it anymore."

Shizuo's expression didn't change or even falter. He wasn't surprised in the slightest. But hearing her say those words made him feel strangely _relieved_ to not be alone. "Saika...the sword." Shizuo tried to connect all the pieces he could and yet somehow a plethora of information was fleeting his mind now. "Who's close?"

Her eyes almost flitted back to the same place as before but she caught herself. "Shizuo-san...Saika's children...they…" She looked back again but only momentarily. She shook her head trying to convey something particular to the blonde man before her. "Saika's children are being 'released' because…" She stopped her fidgeting reluctantly, trying desperately to calm herself. "...because Saika...I can feel her leaving…"

Shizuo's eyes furrowed, "...Leaving?"

"Like she's being sucked away...somewhere where none of us can follow." Anri could see the confusion in Shizuo's eyes and yet she couldn't think of a better way to say it. Saika was going somewhere. Away from her, away from this world and their reality, their dimension.

"I don't understand…" Shizuo whispered, more to himself than to Anri.

Her focus drifted away from the man. "Saika is going home."

* * *

"Shinra!" Kadota called for him as he stepped into the warm, kerosene-heated room. He helped Izaya lay down on the couch. "Stop squirming, will you!" Kyohei spat as the raven kept moving his head back and forth and moving his body in a way that could only be described as _writhing_. His eyes were half-lidded but he still would mumble something nonsensical and slurred from time to time. "Shinra! Where are you?" Kyohei moved away from the sofa for a moment, heading towards the guest bedroom.

As he was just about to put his hand on the door to unlatch it, Shinra came stumbling out, slamming the door shut right after him. "Hey, what's up? Did something happen...again?" Shinra spoke breathily.

Raising an eyebrow at the doctor's unusual behavior, Kyohei studied his high school friend with little emotion leaking onto his face. Shinra straightened his glasses as Kyohei continued to watch his every movement. His clothes were wrinkled, his belt misaligned, and his hair was disheveled and tangled in impossible ways.

"Is someone hurt?" Shinra's face was changing from red to pink to its normal hue until seriousness sunk in as Kyohei continued to stare.

"You just had sex." Kyohei smirked. "Good for you."

Shinra's face scrunched, "And you've been drinking…" He turned his head away at the intense smell of alcohol pouring off of Kadota.

Kyohei ignored Shinra's comment, "Shizuo and Izaya are back." He pointed his thumb behind him towards where he had just left the raven.

Shinra's breath hitched. "For god's sake…Where are they?" the doctor started walking before Kyohei even had a chance to answer Shinra's first question about anyone being injured. "They've been out this long...idiots…"

After following Shinra into the living room and making sure he wasn't needed, the former van gang leader slipped away from the scene, grabbing a bottle of vodka on the way out the door.

"...Shinra…" Izaya spoke when his friend came into view. "...'tired."

The doctor sighed, feeling for Izaya's temperature with his hand. With the electricity out for so long, he wouldn't be able to help him the same way he had last time if he was in a similar condition. By now any IV fluids left, those that remained unfrozen, would be cold and of little use to anyone in such a severe state of hypothermia. In essence, if any one of them became seriously ill or injured, Shinra wasn't sure he'd be able to do much of anything at all.

Luckily, Shinra realized his symptoms were mild, almost non-existent. As long as he rested wrapped up in blankets with the warmth of the heater, maybe with some fluids too, Izaya would be fine. "You need to be more careful…" Shinra spoke as he pulled a couple blankets over his friend's shivering form.

"...'m sorry…" Izaya fought the sleep that was trying to overtake him.

Shinra stroked his black hair. "You need rest. Go to sleep."

Izaya shook his head. "I don't...want to."

"Don't be stubborn. Your body needs it."

"Please…" Izaya's eyes were getting heavier by the second. "Don't...let me..I don't want to fall asleep…"

Shinra couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Why don't you want to sleep?"

"I'm not me anymore…I can't feel _me_ anymore...Am I still here?" The raven was looking everywhere in the room except where Shinra stood in front of him.

Fearing Izaya had cut out from reality again, Shinra repeated the question but louder this time and making sure to force the other man to look at him. "Izaya. Why don't you want to sleep?"

The raven blinked and scrunched his face, confused as if Shinra hadn't really been there the entire time. "Because I...I can't tell the difference anymore…please…" the raven grabbed what he could reach of Shinra's sleeve. "Please, Shinra. I know I'm a terrible person. I'll try to be better, okay? I'll try! I will! Please, please, please! I'm not lying this time...I've done terrible things, I know that! But I can't take it anymore. I can't take waking up to one nightmare from another one."

'_Look what's happened to you...why couldn't you have asked for help before it got this bad? Before when I could have _done _something.' _His heart sunk for his friend. So much so, Shinra had to close his eyes and take several deep breaths to compose himself. He couldn't dwell on his thoughts or he'd lose control just as Izaya already had. "You have to sleep. You can't avoid sleeping…"

Izaya's eyes stopped and focused on Shinra. "Then will you stay with me…?" He saw Shinra flinch at his words. "Can you wake me up...if I start dreaming?"

"Izaya…" Shinra sighed. "That's not a good idea. Please just try to sleep…"

"Please, Shinra…I don't want to dream…" He was pleading with him. Shinra had never heard Izaya plead before and it tortured Shinra to think that the other man was so torn apart inside that he didn't even resemble himself. The doctor wanted to comfort the man. But for some reason he was having trouble even looking at him at the moment.

The front door opened and shut, shaking the whole apartment worryingly. "Go to sleep." he stated somewhat harshly before turning on his heel.

Shinra walked up to Shizuo and shoved him with all his strength and, to both their surprise, Shizuo's back slammed against the wall. Shinra shook his head, not caring to pay attention to it. Their was a rational explanation, there always was so he didn't think more on it attributing it to malnutrition or sleep deprivation or maybe dehydration. It didn't matter to him right now.

He didn't even say anything to Shizuo, just staring at him with gritted teeth and dark circles under his eyes. Shizuo bit his lip and looked down.

"Is he going to be okay?" Shizuo practically whimpered.

Shinra shifted his weight to his other foot, putting his hands on his hips. "Yes. He will be fine." Shinra swallowed a lump in his throat. "Physically he'll be fine."

Shizuo closed his eyes and released a deep breath, his brow furrowing.

"You were out a long time. At least you both dressed decently." Shinra hissed but was letting his anger fade. "Shizuo."

He looked up at the sound of his name. "Yeah?"

"Tell me immediately if or when he does anything out of the ordinary, am I clear?" Shinra felt his chest tighten even more while thinking about the Informant.

Shizuo took another deep breath and nodded.

"I'm worried about him. More about him than any of the rest of us." Shinra swallowed again before resuming. "He's breaking down completely. I don't even trust anymore that he's safe to be around, us _or_ himself."

"What are you saying?" Shizuo cringed.

Shinra shook his head. "Walker found an emergency broadcast while messing with that radio. He and Simon are on the roof trying to locate one of the many shelters mentioned in that broadcast."

"So? That's good news, isn't it?" Shizuo asked, his voice still quiet.

"I need you to promise to control him." Shinra stated. "If he starts acting violently, you are the one who will need to keep him in check. And prevent any outbursts that you can."

Shizuo was taken aback. "Shinra...he's...he can't help it! He's not doing all this to spite us. And you know that. He's just...he's in so much pain right now…He's...sick." The word sounded wrong and tasted even worse. But that was the word most people used in situations like this, right?

"I know, Shizuo." Shinra's voice cracked slightly and he shook his head. "But because of that, I need you to take care of him. We don't know what's happened to our country since we lost communication from it. For all our sakes, if we go to one of these shelters, we all have to cooperate. Because I don't think the government...or at this point, the military, will be very lenient to anyone who causes trouble."

Shizuo felt his gut lurch. "Do you know something you're not telling the rest of us?"

Shinra looked away from Shizuo and gnawed on his bottom lip. He opened and closed his mouth several times without so much as a sound escaping. He closed his eyes and started counting so he could take a moment to compose himself. Finally with another deep inhale and quivering exhale, he found his voice. "When you called me that day after the second earthquake...you asked what the news had been saying." Shinra was avoiding eye contact entirely. "I didn't tell you that several countries...including ours...had been very close to declaring war on each other."

The news hit Shizuo like a bullet train. He briefly felt lightheaded and unable to speak. He shook his head slowly in disbelief. "...What?"

"I don't know if they followed through with the threat or not." Shinra was trying his hardest not to hyperventilate. The panic he was continuously repressing was ever more present and Shinra was getting too tired to fight it back.

Shizuo blankly stared straight ahead, past Shinra and towards the living room. "Anything else?" Shizuo's voice was barely above a whisper. It was emotionless and hoarse, as if he had just woken up from a bad dream instead of being told such devastating news. After Shinra shook his head, the blonde brushed past him without another word.

For a moment, Shizuo stood in the doorway to the living room, leaning on it and gulping back the nausea that was bombarding him. He felt his eyes burn the slightest bit but swallowed the feelings that had been trying to escape through his tear ducts. He took a shaky step forward, then another, and then another, each step slightly sturdier than the last, until he was close enough to kneel in front of Izaya.

Izaya's eyes opened slightly and Shizuo couldn't tell if the shorter man could see him through his eyelashes or not. The raven noticed the blonde's forlorn expression and his own face fell as well. "Shizu-chan...I promise...I'll try...I'm trying to be better…" the corner of Izaya's lips curved upwards into a genuine smile, "You're not a monster…" he lifted his hand from the couch and gently placed it on Shizuo's cheek, "...I'm the monster. Not you."

Shizuo couldn't hold in the pain after those words left the other's mouth. He tried regardless with little success. His breath hitched, he hiccuped, and he tried to cover his eyes with the palm of his hand, but still the tears started flowing freely between the blonde's fingers and down his face. They collected at his chin before dripping onto Izaya's sleeve.

"Eh? Shizu-chan?" Izaya whimpered and tried to pull his arm back but was grabbed by Shizuo before he could completely retreat. Izaya sat up as the blonde pulled himself towards the raven, curling into the other's form and burying his face into the crook of Izaya's neck. "Sh-Sh-Shizu-chan!" Izaya stuttered, not sure what to do. He held his arms hovering near to the other but didn't embrace him. "I made you cry…" Izaya relaxed a bit and lightly held the other man. "I don't understand what I did…" Izaya gradually clutched Shizuo tighter and tighter, placing his head on top of Shizuo soft hair and letting the man sob his heart out.

Slowly, Shizuo's crying died down and Izaya slid both of them to the floor, backs against the couch, so they weren't staying all night half on the couch at an odd angle. Shizuo, by this point, had drifted off to sleep and was letting out the softest of snores. Izaya let his eyelids close as well after some time. He could feel himself between sleep and reality. He was drifting pleasantly for once, probably more awake than asleep since his nightmares had yet to start greeting him with unpleasant images or high-pitched screams.

He could feel himself fall slightly deeper when a thundering noise startled him awake. Shizuo's head also popped up immediately at the loud rumbling and both of them looked towards the ceiling and then to the covered windows as if that would provide any clue as to what the noise had been.

The rumbling gradually faded indicating that whatever it had been, had passed over them now. They waited in silence a for a few minutes before turning to face each other. Both their hearts were pounding, almost painfully, from the awe of confusion and curiosity. The urge to know didn't fade. It kept growing and didn't stop until their fellow survivors busted into the apartment, although they stayed in the hallway.

Everyone was talking at once but neither Shizuo or Izaya could tell if it was from excitement or fear. And it was difficult to make out even a single word until they started calming down. Just as they did, Walker and Simon entered and the wild speech started up again. Footfalls started towards the living room and unconsciously, the two men shoved off each other. As the blushes on their cheeks failed to fade, they both turned away from the other, both still unsure how to act around everyone else.

Erika jolted at the sight of them and rushed up to stand in front of the two before anyone else had a chance. She smirked at them and giggled lightly at their blushing faces and their flustered behavior. "You know..." He started to say while crouching down. "If you two want to keep it a secret...you should try to be more stealthy." Her grin grew wider but more gentle at the same time. "Don't worry. I'll keep quiet." She sighed, "No one would believe me anyway…"

Izaya and Shizuo relaxed slightly. Shizuo coughed a couple times, trying to clear his throat and make sure it wouldn't sound harsh and overused. When Izaya noticed this, he turned to ask Erika the question he knew Shizuo was eager to ask. "What…" He swallowed, still finding it hard to talk to anyone much, other than Shizuo. "What was that noise…?"

Erika's eyebrows lifted, surprised Izaya was talking to her. She was also equally surprised by the soft and timid tone in his voice. She shook herself out of her stupor. "A helicopter." Her smirk was back on her face. "And Walker claims he saw it trying to land. He's convinced that it landed at a emergency center. One of the close ones he's been working on locating."

"So, are we going then?" Shizuo's voice sounded hesitant to Izaya, who tilted his head.

"Yeah...we're starting to pack. Walker was worried any or all of the emergency centers might have been deserted or destroyed or...whatever...but everyone is pretty certain it's still active after seeing that helicopter." Erika briefly turned to look at the other otaku, concern flashed on her features for a split second. "We've all decided, as a group, to head there."

Shizuo cringed momentarily remembering the conversation he had just had with Shinra. For so many years, he was used to rage surfacing at any slight annoyance or inconvenience. But the anger had slowly been transitioning to fear and Shizuo found himself wishing for his anger to return. He couldn't help but think at the moment, that the feeling of anger was more pleasant than the crushing terror gripping him now.

He suddenly felt something touch his hand and he jumped almost ready to pull away. Shizuo looked to Izaya who was tenderly uncurling his clenched fists and then intertwining his fingers between Shizuo's while caressing his knuckles that had turned white with how tense he remained. Feeling Shizuo's eyes on him, Izaya looked up and smiled softly.

'_I'm going to protect you no matter what.'_ Shizuo thought as he placed a kiss on Izaya's forehead.

* * *

A/N Some of you have been wondering about other characters like Namie, Tom, Mairu, Kururi etc etc. Don't worry. I've got a plan and I think you'll be pleased. Just hang on, yeah? I tend to like to 'drag' things out and offer a few clues bit by bit. Not gunna lie, sometimes watching people squirm is amusing...

...LOOOOOVE YOU ALL


	16. Chapter 16 - Red Paint

Our Armageddon

Chapter 16

A/N: Hey peeps, sorry I've been so friggin' slow to update...I'm trying...But I do promise to continue no matter what. Even if I'm slow. I hope you'll continue to read regardless. *bows*

Also, side-note, reviewing really helps me be more motivated. So, if you feel inclined, leave a review. I may not respond but I DO READ EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. And I take notes about what's been said in reviews.

Anyway, you're all beautiful. And thank you especially to those of you who review.

* * *

"I can't believe we have to leave almost everything…" Erika's voice was soft yet strained as she spoke, "Such a waste."

Walker turned to face her as he finished zipping up his backpack, having packed it as full as he could manage. "Yeah but we'll finally be safe at this place!" The grin on his face was huge. He stood and slung the backpack over his shoulders.

Erika's gaze wandered away from his face. "You really think that, don't you?"

"And you don't?" Walker huffed.

She didn't answer him. Instead she looked over at Kadota sneaking a bottle of vodka into his own backpack. Their eyes met briefly before he averted his gaze elsewhere. Erika looked down into the contents of her backpack. She was being practical only packing supplies that she was certain she could and would use. She had packed food, water, matches, a flashlight, and batteries to go with it. She cringed at the realization that most of what she'd just packed was taken from those dead students…

Erika jumped as someone leaned down to pick up a second flashlight laying next to her that she wasn't able to fit. "Mind if I have this one? You already have one, don't you."

"Y-yeah...no problem, Masaomi…" Erika glanced up at the fake blond boy.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Masaomi snapped.

Erika hadn't noticed her eyebrows furrowing or the frown that had formed on her lips. "Nn...nothing."

"Don't pity me." Masaomi's own features relaxed solemnly. He shifted uncomfortably.

"Listen...Masaomi...about the-"

"It's not your fault." Masaomi cut her off. "Saki dying. It wasn't your fault." He bit at his lip and rubbed away a couple tears that had sneaked past his emotional shield. "Thank you for being with her when..._it_ happened."

Erika dully nodded her head. Masaomi walked back to Anri and Mikado and the three of them continued to decide on what they should pack. "_I can't tell you that that flashlight is from one of your dead classmates. It doesn't matter now, does it? As long as you don't know…"_

Erika's ears perked up when she overheard Shizuo's conversation with Izaya. She turned her head only slightly so that her ear was facing in their direction.

"My switchblade...where is it?" Izaya asked.

"Celty has it." Shizuo spoke.

"...Why?" Izaya spoke. He was aware that Shizuo was giving him an answer that somewhere in his mind, buried, he already knew but it was getting harder and harder for him to ignore the voices around him. Not the voices of the other people in the room packing, but the voices around him of the people _he couldn't see_.

Izaya's eyes were searching the room for the unfamiliar voices, darting from one empty space to the next. It was getting harder to hold his tongue from talking back to them. They liked to hide. They'd only talk directly to him if they were close but separated from him. They'd hold conversations with him if they were in another room, behind a wall, or on the other side of a door. The problem was, he didn't know _who they were._

He looked to another corner. It was the corner where Saburo always stood. Saburo never left that corner and no one ever went over to talk to Saburo...other than Izaya. Izaya would, at times, wonder why that was and he kept meaning to ask someone about it...even if it was just Shizuo. But somehow whenever he had the opportunity to bring the subject up, he'd suddenly forget all about Saburo, the corner of the room, and the other voices in the building.

Saburo was there still. He was just staring at Izaya at the moment and the raven briefly pondered inviting him over to help him pack since it appeared the other man had yet to start.

A hand on his shoulder caused him to turn back towards Shizuo.

"Izaya?" Shizuo's voice was gentle. "You zoned out on me. Do you need a break from this?"

Izaya just shook his head. "No, I was just wondering if we should help Saburo pack."

Shizuo blinked. "Saburo…?"

Izaya pointed to the corner of the room. It was empty. Shizuo's heart skipped a beat.

"Izaya…" He started.

"Hey you two, we're hoping to leave soon. So try to finish up, okay?" Shinra knelt down to his two peculiar friends. He noticed Shizuo's surprised look. "Sorry, did I scare you?" Shinra chuckled.

Shizuo shook his head, trying to shake thoughts away. "N-no. It's just…" He looked back at Izaya who wore a curious look on his face.

Shinra leaned closer to Shizuo to whisper in his ear, "Did he do or say something unusual again?" Shizuo was quiet a moment too long, fueling Shinra's suspicions. "Shizuo, I need to know. Did he or did he not say or do something out of the ordinary?"

"Is everyone almost ready?" Simon's voice rose above everyone else's. The room had filled with answers, though voices this time kept to an appropriate level.

Izaya looked back at Saburo who was still staring at him and hadn't answered. "What about Saburo?" He spoke.

Shinra twitched at the name and everyone in the room turned to look at the raven. Izaya looked around at the others staring at him with horrified expressions. He pointed to the corner where Saburo had been the entire time since he'd awoken at Shinra's apartment. He pulled back his hand when he now didn't see the man. He was gone now.

"Hah? Where did he…"

Shinra put both his hands on Izaya, one on each shoulder and made the raven look at him. "Izaya, he's not here. He hasn't been here at all."

"But...I saw him this whole time." Izaya whimpered.

Shinra frowned and gulped back some bile that had risen in his throat. He made his face relax and then forced a smile. "It's alright, Izaya-kun. It was just a dream."

With that explanation, the others gradually went back to finishing packing their supplies. One by one, they stood as they readied to leave the apartment, probably for good this time.

Shinra helped Izaya stand and put on his backpack. "But Shinra...I really did see him there…" The raven whispered.

"I know you did." Shinra was eyeing him all over. "Let's just keep information like that quiet, okay?"

Izaya's gaze slowly found the floor. He heard Shizuo shift next to him, standing and slinging his bag on as well. "Let's go wait outside with the others." He finally spoke. "Let's give Shinra and Celty some space."

The raven nodded but didn't look up as he followed Shizuo out the door.

Celty stepped out of the bedroom and made her way over to Shinra. Shinra blushed, still not used to seeing his headless bride now with a head. He frowned at the familiar helmet in her hands. "Don't worry. I'll let them all know soon. I'm just not ready yet."

She planted a chaste kiss on her lover's lips and backed away just one step and put her helmet on. Shinra smiled at her. No matter what, she'd always be Celty. She'd always be the woman he loved.

His gaze wandered around the room. His smile fell until Celty entwined her fingers in his own. He looked up at her as she bonked her forehead against his. "Time to leave."

Shinra nodded. "Time to leave."

* * *

The group stood outside the apartment complex. Shinra, Celty, Kadota, Erika, Walker, Simon, Anri, Mikado, Masaomi, Izaya, and Shizuo all bowed.

"I'm going to miss this apartment." Shinra stated as the group returned upright. "Good-bye, old life. It was nice while it lasted."

Celty gave Shinra's hand a squeeze. The two looked for a moment more as Erika and Walker spray painted a message on the door, leaving the spray bottles on the steps once they'd finished.

'_SUPPLIES INSIDE_

_TAKE WHAT YOU NEED'_

"Maybe someone can use them...hah...I can't believe we gathered so much. And for what…" Shinra brought a hand to his head, partially covering his eyes.

"You two coming or what?" Masaomi called from a few yards away. Anri and Mikado stood with him. The others were starting to walk on, knowing they'd catch up.

Shinra and Celty hurried to catch up with the rest of the group.

Izaya turned away from the scene that was now behind him and peeked up at Shizuo's pink cheeks and slight grin. Izaya knew his own cheeks were pink from more than just the cold. The raven let his own lips form a smile as he clung to Shizuo's arm.

Shizuo looked down at him, eyes wide and face a bit pinker. "You've perked up."

"So has Shizu-chan!" Izaya stuck out his tongue.

"Yeah, well, we'll finally have some sense of security." Shizuo chuckled.

Izaya went silent but nodded all the same. "Shizu-chan?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad I'm here with you." he spoke although his eyes went downcast.

"I'm glad too." Shizuo tried to keep his smile on his face but something felt wrong. "Are you feeling alright? We should be there before it gets dark. So just hold on a bit more, okay?"

"Shizu-chan." Izaya's fingernails started pricking at Shizuo's skin. Even through his wool coat the sensation was unpleasant. "They're following us."

Shizuo jolted and looked around. "Who?"

"There are voices. I can hear them." Izaya clutched Shizuo's arm tighter. "There's so many of them."

Shizuo's muscles relaxed but instead his heart clenched. "It's okay, just stay close to me. I won't let 'them' get you." He looked behind him and saw Shinra and Celty had rejoined the group even though they stayed towards the back. "_Should I tell him…" _Shizuo sighed and looked forward again. "_Maybe later…"_

They walked mostly in silence. Once in awhile someone would say something just to break that silence. But any conversation that started would end soon after. They were all tired. They were all hungry and thirsty too. They were all trying to hold themselves together, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other. Just thinking about the shelter. About warmth. Maybe there was hot water, maybe there were people they knew and cared about, maybe...just maybe there was _hope_.

As the minutes wore on, the wind started picking up and the temperature felt as if it had dropped. They still had sunlight although they suspected not for many more hours. The sky was already starting to look yellow and orange and that bright kind of sunlight that only happens near dusk.

"It can't be _that _much farther, right?" Walker whimpered.

Erika just shook her head. The wind kept picking up and was blowing against them making it hard to breathe. It also gave more resistance in moving forward. "Maybe we should take cover for the night. We brought the kerosene heater, right?"

"I have it!" Simon chimed in, holding it shoulder height so she could see it in his hand.

"But we're so _close._" Walker argued.

"How sure of that are you?" Erika snapped back. Walker fumbled with the map in his hands but the wind kept blowing the paper, making it move and fold until he could hardly see anything at all for more than three seconds. "We'll camp out in one of these buildings."

She looked around and walked towards a residential building. She reached for the doorknob but stopped short, noticing a red 'X' painted on the wooden surface.

"What's the problem, Erika?" Kadota shouted over the wind.

"This doesn't feel right. Why is this symbol painted here?" Erika argued. She retracted her reach. "I'm not going in there."

Kadota cursed under his breath. "Then pick another door! It's freezing!" He looked around at others in the group.

Anri briefly met eyes with Kadota. She held her still broken arm close to her. Mikado wrapped his arms around Anri's form and Masaomi huddled against them, seeking both warmth and comfort but also hoping he could be helpful in the least. His leg had been hurt for some time and, although now he was more than able to limp about without support, he doubted he'd ever walk properly again. Anri, on the other hand, seemed to healing much more slowly.

Simon rushed ahead of Kyohei to try and help Erika who seemed to be reaching the end of her rope. Walker looked to be of very little help, paralyzed at this point, with terror.

Erika searched around, gaze snapping from one door to the next. "They all have red 'X's!" Door after door was marked with a red X. Her eyes searched the demolished landscape when she spotted another human. Two in fact.

A loud choking sound made her look away for a second. Shizuo was holding Izaya up as the raven went into a coughing fit. "It's okay! It's okay! We'll be inside soon!"

Erika took in a sharp inhale of breath then regained her concentration. She started running towards the couple who were desperately stumbling in the snow to get to cover. "Hey!" She yelled to them. They turned to look her way and when they turned around again they ran faster away from everyone in the group. "Hey! Wait! We need help! Please!"

They entered a home and shut the door tight just as she reached it. She stood dumbfounded as Kyohei and Simon caught up to her. Erika backed away as Kyohei pushed past her and banged on the door. "Wait! Let us in! What's wrong with you people!?" They stood horrified as no vocal answer came but instead the echoing of locks and chains being put into place.

Erika shook her head, backing farther away. "Why…?"

"Izaya!" Shizuo caught him as his legs gave out completely. He was still hacking and coughing, trying to catch his breath and gasping for air when he had even a millisecond break from the spasms racking his body. "Shinra! What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know! I can't examine him out here in this weather! I can barely even _see_!" Shinra snapped back at Shizuo then went back to attempting to calm down Izaya who, at this point, seemed to be panicking.

Erika walked back up to the door and pounded on the wooden surface with both fists. "Open up and let us in!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.

"You need help?" a man's voice boomed from a mostly collapsed alleyway. He waved them over.

Erika, Kyohei, Walker and Simon didn't hesitate to join up with the man. His face was mostly hidden by a scarf and a flu mask that covered the majority of the lower half of his face. His appearance unnerved them yet the alternative choice was no better then following him as he led the group down a stairwell and into the basement of a building that no longer stood. Kyohei and Erika ushered the others over and entered last, closing the heavy metal door behind them and engulfing the space in darkness.

Shizuo sat on the floor cradling Izaya, Shinra next to both of them as the raven's coughing fit gradually subsided. Shinra stood after a moment and bowed to the man. "Thank you for letting us in."

"They didn't let you in because they thought he has it." The man grumbled. "Does he?"

"Does he have what?" Shinra asked.

"You saw the red X's, didn't you?" He spoke as he sat.

Shinra nodded. "Yeah, they were all over the place-" the young doctor's eyes snapped open in realization.

"Smart, are ya? I don't know what the disease is called. But it's wiping people out left and right." The man started fiddling with a lantern on the desk next to him, making the flame inside flare bigger and bigger until he deemed it's light bright enough.

"An epidemic…" Shinra spoke under his breath. "What are the symptoms?"

"How long has he had that cough?" he asked instead of answering the question.

Shinra stiffened. "Off and on since the earthquake."

The man let out a deep chuckle. "Then he doesn't have it." Seeing Shinra's both surprised and confused expression he continued. "If he had whatever the disease is, he'd be dead by now. No one lives longer than a few days after the coughing starts."

Shinra let the tension slip from his body. "Why are you helping us? You must have thought he had that disease too." He looked over to see Izaya was now sitting upright.

"It's the end of the world. There's not much to lose at this point." The man picked up a small metal bell and rang it, the sound resonating throughout the mostly empty space. "And I'm not helping anyone."

The clicking of locks made the group turn towards the still closed door in which they had entered. Two more men with flu masks stood in front of it, finishing setting the various types of locks in place.

"Rather I'm not helping _you._" The man continued. "_We're_," he pointed back and forth from himself to the other men, "helping each other." Now that their eyes were finally adjusting to the dim light in the basement structure, they could see a door to the right of the men. "I give them 'toys,' their words, not mine. And they give me rations, clean water, and a warm place to sleep."

Shinra backed up from the man and stumbled back to the group as more men gathered. The lighting was still too dim to see any facial features but the stench of blood and alcohol was duly noted and ever present. There was a mixture of other smells cascading off of them, cigarettes and various other smokables, stomach acid caused by food that had gone rancid, and the sickly scent of dried cum.

After the first scream, he didn't even know who it'd been, his ears started ringing and other than that all he heard was his staggered breath and thumping heartbeat. Everything was simultaneously too fast and too slow all at once.

He watched as one by one they were grabbed and restrained by sheer physical strength, himself included, then dragged through the now obvious door next to the one they had entered. Everything was blurring together into simple shapes and colors swirling around in his vision. Shinra reached for Celty's hand but the two men holding him didn't flinch and held him tight. They were all struggling to get out of their grasps, even Shizuo who now seemed to be no match.

As he was pushed to the floor, his head smacking against concrete, he thought back to when he'd pushed Shizuo against the wall of the apartment. He'd staggered…He'd staggered and Shinra dismissed it entirely. Realizing now, as he was blacking out that it must not have been due to malnutrition or sleep deprivation, Shinra felt dread wash over him. Something was happening to Shizuo just as something had happened to Celty.

* * *

...to be continued.

A/N: see you next chapter!


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